The Big Red Wine Myth: Is Alcohol Bad For Blood Pressure?

Is Alcohol Bad For Blood Pressure

Let's deal with some nonsense in the title of this blog first and foremost. Red wine is NOT good for your heart, this is just a story peddled by the evil alcohol industry to make you feel better about drinking poison.

Watch the video and I will explain in detail!

It's no secret what excessive drinking does to your body, but is alcohol bad for blood pressure?

High blood pressure affects nearly half of all adults in America. It's something that can come about genetically, but if you're eating unhealthy foods and drinking too much alcohol, you're likely to end up with hypertension.

There are dire consequences to high blood pressure. Your risk of heart attack and stroke goes way up, along with heart failure and a variety of other heart diseases. If you want to keep your blood pressure down, cutting out alcohol will definitely help.

In this post, we're going to look at how alcohol affects your blood pressure. If you're a heavy drinker, then keep reading because there's a lot you need to know about the consequences of alcohol.

How Does Alcohol Affect Blood Pressure

One of the big problems with alcohol is that it affects your blood pressure in myriad ways. It can constrict your blood vessels and reduce your body's ability to get rid of fluid. This happens as a result of increased levels of the hormone renin in your blood.

Alcohol simultaneously increases feelings of dehydration, which can have a major effect on your blood pressure. It also increases cortisol levels, which is the hormone that regulates your response to stress, metabolism, immune function, and inflammation.

The Direct Effects of Alcohol On Blood Pressure

On an experiential level, you may feel your blood pressure rise any time you've had more than three drinks at once. This causes a temporary spike in blood pressure, which tends to stabilize after the alcohol has left your system.

Binge drinking - defined as five or more drinks in two hours (or four or more for women) - can have a similar effect, raising your blood pressure temporarily. If you binge drink over a longer period of time, you may risk developing chronic hypertension.

Some people can feel the direct effects of alcohol on their blood pressure. What makes hypertension so dangerous, however, is the fact that it does a lot of its damage in silence. You may think that your drinking isn't causing you any health problems, but your blood pressure may say otherwise.

The Indirect Effects Of Alcohol On Blood Pressure

There are indirect effects of alcohol on blood pressure as well. The simplest way to look at it is that almost all alcoholic beverages contain lots of sugars and calories. These things contribute to more body fat, weight gain, and metabolic issues.

How much exercise you get and what you put in your body are the biggest non-genetic factors that determine your blood pressure. High blood pressure is common in those that abuse alcohol, but the good news is that it's never too late to try and correct it.

How To Quit Drinking And Better Your Heart Health

So, is alcohol bad for blood pressure? The older you get, the more likely it is that alcoholism will raise your blood pressure. Lowering your blood pressure isn't easy, but cutting out alcohol, watching what you eat, and exercising will help you do it.

If you're concerned that your drinking is affecting your blood pressure, then it's time to enroll in Craig Beck's free quit drinking webinar. It's not always easy to quit drinking, but with a Stop Drinking Expert like Craig on your side, the impossible will finally seem possible.