Alcohol and elevated heart rate

[Nocturnal]

Does anyone here drink and notice that their heart rate goes up significantly? I notice when I drink, which is on occassion, once a week, my heart starts beating very quick.

I've done a Google search and come up with a few different things but nothing conclusive. Of course, I should ask my doctor but in the mean time, I'm looking for anecdotal information.

Thanks!

 

[MegaVovaN]

Just how elevated? Give us some digits.

(There, a good reason to drink again )

 

[Nocturnal]

I would have to say 120BPM or so. It's beating pretty fast.

 

[wheresmybacon]

As someone who drank very heavily for many years, I can tell you that your resting BPM and blood pressure are definitely elevated due to drinking. Intuitively that seems strange since alcohol is a depressant, but that's how it is. I quit drinking over 2 months ago and my blood pressure has come down from 150/95 to 120/75. Resting BPM down from ~ 80 to 60.

Realize that your liver puts processing alcohol at the very top of your body's things-to-do list, so if you're exercising after tying one on the night before, your performance will suffer due to this fact alone.

 

[IGBT]

Dr Lewis said: "This study shows that alcohol intake may increase blood pressure to a much greater extent, even among moderate drinkers, than previously thought. Large-scale replication studies are required to confirm this finding and to improve the precision of our estimates."

Journal reference: Chen L, Davey Smith G, Harbord R, Lewis SJ (2008) Alcohol and blood pressure: A systematic review implementing a mendelian randomization approach. PLoS Med 5(3): e52. doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050052






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[jiggahertz]

I've decreased my drinking quite a bit in the past few years. Now when I have a glass or two of bourbon or scotch at night I seem to get real fidgety and can't sit still. Haven't noticed any change in my HR though.