Alcohol and High Blood Pressure: Effects and More, Explained

“Adults above the age of 50 are at much higher risk of heart attack and stroke than they are of any possible harmful effects to light-moderate drinking,” Klatsky says. “So even if they have high blood pressure, they could see the health benefit from something like a glass of red wine a day.” Experts have known for a while that heavy drinking — meaning eight or more drinks per week for women and 15-plus per week for men — raises your risk for high blood pressure (a.k.a. hypertension). When blood pressure, the force of blood flowing through your arteries, is consistently high, that ups your risk for heart attack, stroke and heart failure, as well as vision loss and kidney disease. Now experts have reason to believe even moderate drinking carries risks. There is a very clear link between regularly drinking too much alcohol and having high blood pressure.

“The myth that wine is beneficial for heart health is no longer true,” she states. Risk factors for high blood pressure include smoking, eating a diet high in sodium, and low sun rock marijuana physical activity levels. However, current recommendations like those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) focus on limiting alcohol to one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men.

Even moderate alcohol intake could cause high blood pressure. Learn what you can do to reduce the risk

Renin also decreases how much fluid the body eliminates as urine. Ramnauth said alcohol can also impair or diminish “baroreceptors in the brain that would sense blood pressure.” These baroreceptors regulate blood pressure by detecting changes and signaling the body to adjust. When they become impaired by alcohol intake, the body might not respond as effectively to changes in blood pressure, leading to persistent high blood pressure. “Some of the new diabetes medications have a diuretic effect, and that could cause dehydration” in people with diabetes, Vaishnava says.

Many factors can influence high blood pressure

This increases the sensitivity of the blood vessels to compounds that constrict them. When you stop drinking, or reduce the amount you drink, you’ll see rapid improvement in your blood pressure (you should see a reduction within a few days). If you drink regularly, you might feel like alcohol doesn’t affect you as much, but this usually means you’ve developed a tolerance to some of the effects.

Studies published in the American Heart Association’s scientific journals are peer-reviewed. The statements and conclusions in each manuscript are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content.

1. Older adults — drinkers, nondrinkers, it doesn’t matter — are already at risk for hypertension.
2. This combination of higher fluid levels in the body and smaller blood vessels increases blood pressure.
3. But alcohol can lead to your heart rate temporarily jumping up in speed, and if it goes over 100 beats per minute, it can cause a condition called tachycardia.
4. If you’re not sure, make a note to tune into how much you’re having over the course of the next month or so.
5. When the SNS is stimulated or “activated” due to stress or alcohol intake, it works harder than usual.

It’s important to note that some studies examined only looked at small numbers of females compared to males. As a result, further research is necessary to confirm the effects on all people. This article will use the terms “female” and “male” when discussing people assigned female or male at birth to reflect language that appears in source materials. Research has not proven that wine is linked to lowering blood pressure, says James Beckerman, MD, a cardiologist at the Providence St. Vincent Heart Clinic in Portland, OR. You need to determine your lifestyle and genetic risk factors first, says Arthur Klatsky, MD, an investigator for Kaiser Permanente’s research division and formerly its chief of cardiology in Oakland, CA.

But don’t expect any “all clears” for anything beyond light-moderate drinking. Another study, this time in the Journal of the American Heart Association, indicates that binge drinking increases blood pressure levels in men but not women. Despite this finding, women should try not to engage in binge drinking. A 2023 report found that drinking too much alcohol regularly, exceeding 30 grams per day, can significantly increase the risk of developing high blood pressure. According to a recent analysis by the American Heart Association (AHA), the more alcoholic drinks you have each day, the higher your systolic blood pressure tends to be. Older adults — drinkers, nondrinkers, it doesn’t matter — are already at risk for hypertension.

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Regularly consuming too many calories can lead to weight gain and therefore obesity, which is a risk factor for heart attack, stroke and type 2 diabetes. One area of interest is how the consumption of alcohol impacts blood pressure. However, even drinking small amounts of alcohol may contribute to high blood pressure.

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When the SNS is stimulated or “activated” due to stress or alcohol intake, it works harder than usual. A slower metabolism also plays a role, as do medications — prescription, over-the-counter, even herbal remedies — that are common among older people. “As you grow older, health problems or prescribed medicines may require that you drink less alcohol or avoid it completely,” the Institute says. Heavy alcohol users who cut back to average drinking can lower their top number in a blood pressure reading by about 5.5 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and their bottom number by about 4 mm Hg. A number of factors can contribute to high blood pressure, including alcohol consumption. Each study had to meet strict eligibility criteria, allowing researchers to focus on participants with no previous history of cardiovascular disease.