What kind of alcohol raises or lowers the pressure? A few undeniable facts

Undoubtedly, to the widespread alcoholic "myths and legends" is the belief that certain types of alcoholic drinks in certain doses lower blood pressure. Alcohol and pressure: lowers or increases? There is an opinion that alcoholic beverages in a certain dosage can even be treated for hypertension. Is it so: Does alcohol increase or lower blood pressure? Let's try to understand how it affects the human body, bringing benefit or causing harm.

Norms of use

First, when it comes to the benefits of drinking, the dose that is acceptable to the human body is always specified. According to scientific data, such norms are: half a liter of beer, 300 ml of wine, 50 ml of vodka or another forty-degree drink. And this is a day! It does not mean that you need to immediately drink the first, second and third. It will be enough to stop at one thing, and even then not every day. All that is used above said, causes irreparable harm to health. So if we talk about whether alcohol increases or lowers the pressure, everyone should remember about these norms of its consumption. In addition, those people who have hypertension, as a rule, can not drink alcohol because of its incompatibility with certain medicines prescribed by a doctor and used just to reduce pressure.

Research of science

So all the same, does alcohol increase or lower blood pressure? The results of studies conducted in middle-aged men who consumed up to 50 mg of ethyl alcohol daily (of course, not in pure form, but as wine, beer or vodka), showed a sustained, progressive increase in pressure over time. Also, men increased the number of heartbeats (heart rate), and regardless of the type of drink!

Factors

Circumstances that influence whether alcohol is raised or lowered are quite diverse. This is the age of a person, and his lifestyle, and diet. Alcohol has an impact on the human body in a complex manner. Getting inside, combined with food, he can both increase the pressure, and short-term to lower it. Of course, you can not use alcohol instead of medications, especially to the elderly. They are better off altogether refusing to drink alcohol in any of its manifestations.

Different phases of intoxication

Increases or lowers the pressure of alcohol, depends also on the stage of intoxication of a person. Immediately after consumption, ethanol (one of the constituents of alcoholic beverages) expands the blood vessels. At the same time, their tone decreases. If to speak in a simple way, the walls of the vessels become flexible and more elastic. As a result, the blood meets less resistance in its path, and the pressure decreases for a short time. When you drink alcohol, your heart rate increases . From this, the blood passes through the ventricles faster, and they can not push it out as much as necessary. The result: not only a reduction in blood pressure, but also a deterioration in the blood supply of certain parts of the body (fingers and toes, for example). That's why do not recommend taking alcohol in the cold, supposedly for "sagrevu", you risk frostbite the nose and limbs. Therefore, talk about safety and even more so the benefits of drinking are still not worth it.

In subsequent stages of intoxication, pressure tends to rise, since ethanol stimulates the nervous system. The same people who regularly drink alcohol, the pressure is consistently high.

So all the same, does alcohol increase or lower blood pressure?

In general, we can say that the positive effect of taking alcohol (no more than 20-30 mg of pure alcohol per day) with pronounced hypertension is unstable and depends on the frequency of alcohol intake and the age of the patient. And most importantly, if the daily dose is exceeded, it will lead to the opposite effect, and the pressure will rise. So it's not worth the risk. Moreover, many representatives of the stronger sex do not observe the measure. And the excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks is fraught with a steady increase in pressure.

Reverse effect

Often in men after taking a couple of glasses of wine or a liter of beer, the pressure suddenly "jumps", and then the light becomes not nice. In addition to the above, there are several more medical explanations for this phenomenon:

• After a while, ethanol provokes the release of noradrenaline and renin. The hormonal function is dilated, the pressure rises.
• There is a failure in the kidneys. There is frequent urination (ethanol produces a diuretic effect). Violated water balance, the pressure rises.
• In addition, in people with ischemia (focal) of the brain, the ill-considered intake of alcohol can even lead to death, since the risk of hemorrhagic stroke will increase dramatically.

Which alcohol lowers the pressure?

If you are so anxious to "undergo" alcohol, use a small dose of cognac or white grape wine for a short-term reduction in pressure. But red wine, beer, champagne can not be used for these purposes. And remember the dosage!