Alcohol and blood pressure

Alcohol can have a serious long-term effect on blood pressure

Drinking alcohol increases your blood pressure and repeated drinking causes sustained high blood pressure.

Alcohol consumption is an entirely preventable cause of severe hypertension (the medical name for sustained high blood pressure) in both men and women.¹ Untreated high blood pressure greatly increases your risk of stroke and heart attack.²

What is high blood pressure?

A normal heart pumps blood around the body easily, at a low pressure. Having high blood pressure means that your heart must pump harder, and the arteries have to carry blood that’s flowing under greater pressure. This puts a strain on your arteries and your heart, which in turn increases your risk of a heart attack, stroke or kidney disease.3

Symptoms

You can't usually feel or notice high blood pressure. In fact, many people may not know they have it. This is because high blood pressure very rarely causes any obvious symptoms until a serious acute event such as a heart attack or stroke.⁴

The best way of knowing if there’s a problem is to have your blood pressure measured. You can have this done at your GP surgery, some local pharmacies, at your NHS Health Check or you can buy a reliable blood pressure monitor from the pharmacist.

Causes

There isn’t always a clear explanation as to why someone’s blood pressure is high. However, there are several factors that can play a part in increasing the risks of developing hypertension including:⁵

Regularly drinking above the low risk drinking guidelines (no more than 14 units a week)
Not doing enough exercise
Being overweight
A family history of high blood pressure
Consuming too much salt

How to reduce high blood pressure

To lower your blood pressure, you should:⁶

Cut down on alcohol
Exercise regularly
Lose weight, if you are overweight
Eat a healthy diet, including reducing your salt intake

If you're looking to reduce your drinking, check out our "Help to reduce drinking" hub.

Help to reduce drinking

Or if you want to learn more about your drinking, take our Drinking Check below to discover if your drinking is impacting your health, well-being and relationships.

External links

If you’re worried about your blood pressure, talk to a health professional at your GP surgery. Or if you’re looking for more information, Blood Pressure UK offers a range of advice on how to take control of, or prevent, high blood pressure. Call their information line on 020 7882 6218 or visit www.bloodpressureuk.org

High blood pressure increases the risk of heart problems, stroke, and kidney disease. More information on these issues is available from the following organisations: