Other Heart Risks Of Heavy Alcohol Use
There are several other cardiovascular risk factors for the heart from alcohol abuse besides elevated blood pressure. These include:
- Tachycardia an increased heart rate that causes symptoms such as anxiety and trouble with concentration
- Cardiomyopathy a condition that affects the heart and blood vessels
- Stroke a serious medical event caused by a lack of blood to the brain, typically from blockage
- Cardiac Arrest commonly known as a heart attack, this is a serious risk associated with heavy alcohol use
- Heart Disease a condition that is more likely if an individual has a family history of cardiovascular disease or coronary artery disease
- Heart Failure for those who are unable to implement heart disease control measures, heart failure is possible
When It Hits It Hits Hard:
- A swollen and uncomfortable stomach
- Spleen inflammation and swelling
- Varicose veins in the upper intestinal region .
- Possibly substantial hemorrhaging from broken varicose veins in the upper intestinal region.
The underlying reason for portal high blood pressure in most persistent problem drinkers is a high-level type of liver disease called cirrhosis. This disorder takes hold when scar tissue starts to take the place of the livers healthy cells. It generally shows up after a decade or more of serious alcoholism.
System-wide high blood pressure may also result in a range of serious and lasting health issue in anybody impacted by alcohol addiction. A lot of these issues show up in the cardiac system.
For instance, individuals with persistent hypertension have escalated odds of experiencing a coronary artery obstruction followed by a cardiac arrest. They also have escalated odds of experiencing heart failure. This is a problem that happens when the cardiac organ can no longer pump with sufficient pressure to satisfy the bodys demands for oxygen-bearing blood.
How Often Does The Average Person Drink Alcohol
The national average for weekly hours worked was 17 per week. Heavy drinking is defined as 14 drinks per week for men and seven drinks per week for women, according to the Centers for Disease Control. 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor constitute a typical drink.
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Water Content In The Diet
Although drinking water can lower blood pressure, so can a diet high in fruit and vegetables. That is because many vegetables and fruit are mostly made of water.
A diet high in processed foods full of salt and sugar will increase your blood pressure. However, a diet rich in vegetables and fruit will lower your blood pressure. You will want to get organic fruit and vegetables when available, which are free from pesticides.
Can You Get High Blood Pressure From Drinking Alcohol
Drinking alcohol has the potential to increase blood pressure in most individuals. Drinking more than three drinks in a single session can lead to a short-term increase in blood pressure. Excessive, long-term alcohol consumption and repeated binge drinking can lead to more sustained rise in blood pressure .
In both cases, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure can reach unhealthy levels and put you at risk of heart-related complications. Those who already have high blood pressure have an even higher risk of developing hypertension complications from alcohol consumption.
Many people are still at risk of developing high blood pressure from drinking any amount of alcohol, regardless of prior health status.
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Red Wine Extracts And Blood Pressure
Red wine extracts containing concentrated grape polyphenols are also available which provide the antioxidant benefits without having to drink the wine. Some supplements contain as much resveratrol as 300 or more glasses of Chianti!
In ten studies assessing the effects of mixed grape polyphenols on blood pressure, five showed a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure, while five showed no significant changes. When all the results were analysed, the overall reduction remained significant, but small, with grape polyphenols lowering systolic blood pressure, on average, by 1.48 mmHg compared to placebo.
When supplements consist of concentrated resveratrol rather than mixed grape polyphenols, however, the effects are more pronounced. Six studies, involving 247 people with high blood pressure showed that taking at least 150 mg resveratrol per day lowered systolic blood pressure by an impressive 11.90 mmHg compared with placebo.
There were no significant changes in diastolic blood pressure and lower doses of resveratrol did not show a significant effect.
Dehydration And Blood Pressure
Can dehydration cause blood pressure to rise? It absolutely can.
Basically, when you fail to drink enough water, the body will compensate through sodium retention, which can lead to high blood pressure.
In other words, sodium is like the bodys water insurance policy. It helps regulate the amount of water that is around and in your cells.
Dehydration forces the body to slowly shut down some of its capillary beds throughout your entire system. When some of these capillary beds shut down, this puts greater pressure on both your capillaries and arteries, and in turn raises your blood pressure.
Not drinking enough water also causes the blood to thicken. The heart then squeezes and pushes the thick blood to the aorta. The blood then must fall out from the bend of the aorta.
When blood is too thick, this can reduce blood flow, and therefore gravity is not strong enough to pull it down toward your feet. As a result, the muscles must squeeze and work harder.
When these muscles squeeze, they increase the pressure inside your blood vessels, and this leads to hypertension.
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Understanding Blood Pressure Levels
Research participants provided details about their drinking habits via a questionnaire that was part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The study defined moderate drinkers as those having 7 to 13 drinks per week, while heavy drinkers downed 14 or more drinks on a weekly basis.
Investigators measured blood pressure during in-home interviews and at a mobile examination center. Pressure is gauged in millimeters of mercury, or mmHg. The top number represents how much pressure is pushing against artery walls as the heart beats, and the bottom number represents pressure when the heart rests between beats. Readings were categorized according to American Heart Association standards.
Based on their findings, study authors determined that the likelihood of having elevated high blood pressure was on average 19 percent greater among moderate drinkers and 44 percent higher for the heavy drinkers compared with those who never drank.
Compared with the never-drinkers, moderate drinkers had 53 percent higher odds of having stage 1 hypertension and 100 percent greater odds for stage 2 hypertension.
Risks were higher for heavy drinkers they faced a 69 percent greater chance of developing stage 1 hypertension and 140 percent greater chance for stage 2 hypertension compared with those who totally avoid alcohol.
How Much Alcohol Is Okay
It is okay to have drinks in moderation if you are a healthy individual. Here is what moderate alcohol consumption means.
For healthy men who are younger than 65 years old: Not more than two drinks per day
For healthy men who are 65 years of age and older: Not more than one drink per day
For healthy women of any age: Not more than one drink per day
| Alcoholic beverage |
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Drinks That Lower Your Blood Pressure
If you struggle with hypertension, odds are youve looked high and low for a quick and easy way to reduce your blood pressure.
The truth is that theres no single solution, but making simple changes can yield powerful results. Something as easy as expanding and evolving your beverage intake can help to keep your blood pressure at a healthy level.
While lower blood pressure may not be just a sip away, simple changes to what you sip every day can lead to some big heart health benefits.
Here are a few options to get you started.
Moderate To Heavy Drinking May Raise Womens Blood Pressure
By Kathryn Doyle, Reuters Health
5 Min Read
– Just two drinks a day could raise a womans blood pressure enough to put her at risk for hypertension, Australian researchers say.
Past studies have shown that drinking alcohol raises mens blood pressure, but results for women have been mixed. In the new trial, when women had 14 to 21 standard servings of red wine each week they had higher pressure than when they drank less or consumed non-alcoholic wine.
If are not drinking within national guidelines when drinking they should cut down, switch to non-alcoholic drinks after reaching this level, said Dr. Barbara J. Turner, director of the Research to Advance Community Health Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, by email.
It is worth paying attention to the long term effects of higher blood pressure levels because hypertension is the most common cause of heart disease, said Turner, who was not involved in the new study.
Researchers at the University of Western Australia in Perth recruited 24 healthy women to test the effects of varying amounts of alcohol on 24-hour blood pressure.
The women were aged 24 to 49, and most were wine drinkers. Researchers measured the participants normal blood pressure before the study period. Then they divided women into two groups higher-level and lower-level drinkers – based on how much each woman said she typically drank. There were no non-drinkers among the participants.
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Alcohol And High Blood Pressure Exposed
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Negative Effects Of Moderate Alcohol Consumption
Emerging data suggests that even moderate drinking may increase the overall risk of death from a variety of causes, including numerous types of cancer and some types of cardiovascular disease. Alcohol has been shown to raise cancer risk, and for some cancers, the risk rises even at modest levels of intake .
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What Exactly Is High Blood Pressure
Blood pressure at its core is simply the force at which your heart pumps blood through the arteries and blood vessels around your body.
High blood pressure is indicated when your average blood pressure readings overtime exceed normal levels .
The top number of a blood pressure reading, systolic, represents the force at which your blood is pumping when your heart beats. The bottom number, diastolic, represents the force at which your blood is pumping in between beats.
A healthy adult will experience a blood pressure in the range of 90 to 120 over 60 to 80 depending on their age, activity level, fitness, and health condition.
Rates of hypertension climb as you age as well – about 65 percent of adults over 60 experience hypertension according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Pharmacological Treatment Of Alcohol
There are no definite clinical data available on the efficacy of specific drugs in the treatment of alcohol-induced hypertension. Randin et al have reported that dexamethasone in human suppresses the acute alcohol-induced hypertension. It is suggested that ACE inhibitors/angiotensin II receptor type 1 blockers, because of their ability to increase the cardiac output in patients with alcohol-induced cardiomyopathy will be useful in the treatment of alcohol-induced hypertension. Cheng et al have shown that angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockade prevents alcoholic cardiomyopathy in dogs. The calcium channel blockers, because of the probability of the involvement of calcium in the development of alcohol-induced hypertension, may also likely be the drug of choice for the treatment of alcohol-induced hypertension.
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Alcoholism And High Blood Pressure Link
Blood flowing through your body puts a strain on your systems veins. The pressure created while the cardiovascular system actively beats is referred to as systolic pressure. The pressure created while the heart is in resting periods between every beat is referred to as diastolic.
Physicians merge these 2 results into one well-known rating that looks like a fraction. The systolic result creates the top fraction of the result, while the diastolic result makes the lower half.
The International Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has made the judgment that healthy and balanced people generally have a max result of 120/80 mmHg. Systolic and diastolic readings that surpass this limit might suggest the existence of high blood pressure or a precursor issue referred to as pre-hypertension.
How Alcohol Can Damage The Cardiovascular System
The heart and blood vessels form part of the cardiovascular system.1Blood is pumped around the body by the heart, via these blood vessels through arteries, capillaries and veins.2 The blood delivers nutrients and other materials to all parts of the body, including alcohol, which is absorbed directly into the blood stream mainly via the stomach and small intestine.
The cardiovascular system is affected by alcohol. At the time of drinking, alcohol can cause a temporary increase in heart rate and blood pressure. In the long-term, drinking above the guidelines can lead to on-going increased heart rate, high blood pressure, weakened heart muscle and irregular heartbeat. All of which can increase the risk of alcohol-caused heart attack and stroke.
Increased heart rate
Heart rate is the number of times the heartbeats per minute. Alcohol can cause variability in the way the heart beats the time between heart beats. Studies have found that regular heavy drinking can cause episodes of tachycardia . 6,7Complications due to regular episodes of tachycardia, do vary depending on their frequency, length and severity, but it can cause blood clots that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.8
Increased blood pressure
Weakened heart muscle
Irregular heart beat
Atrial fibrillation
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A Note For Red Wine Lovers
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.
A Dutch study showed that heart-healthy nutrients called polyphenols in red wine help prevent heart disease, but not because of a drop in blood pressure. Research shows that the polyphenols improve the cells lining the blood vessels, and do improve blood flow and heart health. The jury is still out, though, on whether this could potentially improve high blood pressure in severe cases.
Klatsky agrees. âOne glass of red wine isnât going to improve your blood pressure,â he says. âUltimately, itâs lifestyle changes: low salt, optimal weight and exercise, and medication if necessary.â
Do you shudder at the thought of giving up your vino altogether? If youâve been advised against drinking for very high blood pressure, there may be salvation in one kind of wine: nonalcoholic.
One study found that three glasses of nonalcoholic red wine a day over a month led to a significant drop in blood pressure in men with heart disease risk factors. But men who drank red wine with alcohol, or 3 ounces of gin, had no change in their blood pressure. Researchers think that the alcohol in the wine weakens any antioxidant benefit to blood pressure.
What Is Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is exactly what it sounds like: the pressure of your blood. Blood pressure is given in two numbers . This is because blood flows at two different pressures: A higher pressure occurs when the heart is contracting and forcing blood through the arteries, and a lower pressure occurs when the heart is relaxed. Both of these pressures are important, but the higher pressure tends to be the one that causes the most damage when it is elevated.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is very harmful because it causes microscopic damage to the lining of arteries. This causes scarring and hardening of the arteries and can eventually lead to blockages. These blockages can block blood flow to the heart , to the brain or to other essential organs. Heart attacks are the most common complication caused by hypertension. Hypertension can be especially deadly because people often dont realize they have it, as it doesnt cause any symptoms until a complication like a heart attack or stroke occurs. Because of this, hypertension has been called the silent killer.
Low blood pressure, or hypotension, is dangerous if blood pressure gets too low however, this usually only occurs due to disease or a large amount of blood loss. Unlike high blood pressure, low blood pressure does cause symptoms, such as dizziness and pale skin. Additionally, low blood pressure is usually not a long-term health problem like high blood pressure.
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Alcohol And High Blood Pressure Just Go Together
Individuals who dont drink often have a tendency to experience only short-term manifestations of high blood pressure. When their blood alcohol amounts recede to ordinary safe levels, the increased pressure put on their veins will burn up. As a result, their systolic and diastolic results will go back to regular and expected levels.
Nevertheless, the predicament can alter in individuals who develop a recurring convention of alcohol binging. In this kind of scenarios, a once-temporary surge in force levels can become a recurring case of pre-hypertension or high blood pressure.
Fast Food French Fries
Seemly, a lot of fast food restaurants are frying their fries in the trans fat-free oil. Certainly, French fries still though they can be fried in the trans fat-free oil are rich in sodium and fat. A medium serving of fries provides about 270 milligrams of sodium and around 19 grams of fat making them extremely harmful even in small amounts.
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