Alcohol Blood Pressure?
Is There Any Connection?

The jury is still out on alcohol blood pressure. Nevertheless, we're going to take a look at the connection between alcohol and achieving normal blood pressure.

Many years ago when I was a chemist working in a laboratory, a heavy red-faced salesman used to drive up to our building in a car too small for him.

I remember looking at him and thinking, "My, that huffer and puffer must be quite a boozer." Now, I would add that his blood pressure must have been out the roof.

Back then, I had no thought of alcohol causing anything but temporary drunkenness. Alcohol and high blood pressure meant nothing to me.

Now, due to my crusade to lower my blood pressure naturally from its high of 170/85 (my last reading was 129/74), and, within the last year, to help others handle theirs, I'm deep into finding connections.

So, let's start by seeing what others have discovered about alcohol blood pressure.

Studies have consistently found that moderate drinking may be beneficial, whereas excessive alcohol consumption is the reverse.

Moderate drinking seems to cause increased HDL ("good" cholesterol).

HDL helps keep blood vessels clean by dissolving LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and transporting it to the liver for conversion and disposal.

Therefore, moderate drinking should lessen the threat of arteriosclerosis, clot formation and high blood pressure.

So, alcohol and blood pressure might be a good thing with moderate alcohol consumption.

On the other hand, excessive drinking is a positive for alcohol and high blood pressure.

Studies of heavy drinkers show that when they reduced alcohol consumption to moderate levels their systolic blood pressure (the high one) dropped two to four points. Diastolic (the low one) dropped one to two points on the average.

That might not sound like much, but every drop is significant when one has high blood pressure.

How do you know if you are a moderate drinker?

What makes a moderate drinker?

Alcohol blood pressure, to be normal blood pressure, requires that you follow a high blood pressure diet first and foremost.

Cutting down alcohol will not give you normal blood pressure, but it is one of many tweaks, which added together, will get you going in the right direction.

Moderate drinking is daily consumption of no more than one drink a day for women and men over 65, or two drinks a day for men under 65.

One drink is:

12 ounces of beer or ale,
5 ounces of wine, or
1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor (1 ounce of 100 proof).

Drinking more than this could bring on alcohol blood pressure.

Some researchers have found that any drinking will cause a rise in blood pressure if done on an empty stomach.

So, be sure to snack when you have a drink, and make sure that snack is compatible with your normal blood pressure diet.

Okay, alcohol and blood pressure isn't so serious, especially if you follow some of the suggestions on other pages of this site.

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