High blood pressure causes: The worst drinks for increasing a person’s BP reading

Chris Evans reveals his wife gave him a blood pressure monitor

Developing high blood pressure is risky business, as the health condition can lead to a number of undesirable outcomes, such as an early grave. It really can kill. The charity MedicAlert lists six possible consequences of high blood pressure, which are:

  • Aortic aneurysms
  • Heart attacks disease failure
  • Kidney disease
  • Peripheral arterial disease
  • Strokes
  • Vascular dementia

Evidently, avoiding high blood pressure should be the goal for people who want to live longer.

Drinking too much caffeine and/or alcohol has been linked to high blood pressure.

Caffeinated beverages

  • Tea
  • Coffee
  • Hot chocolate
  • Colas
  • Some energy drinks
  • Some soft drinks

The British Nutrition Foundation warned people “not to overdo it on the caffeine”.

“Try not to have more than four cups of instant coffee or five cups of tea a day,” said the organisation.

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In terms of alcohol, adults are advised not to drink more than 14 units of alcohol in a week.

If you look on the back of a wine bottle, for example, you may see that it contains around 10 units.

Fourteen units is equivalent to six pints of four percent ABV beer or six glasses of 13 ABV percent wine.

Alcoholic drinks and units

  • 2.1 units in a standard (175ml) glass of 12 percent ABV wine;
  • 2.4 units in a standard (175ml) glass of 14 percent ABV wine;
  • 2 units in a pint of lower-strength beer (3-4 percent ABV);
  • 3 units in a pint of premium lager (around five percent);
  • 1 unit in a single small shot (25ml) of spirits;
  • 1.1 units in a 275ml bottle of alcopop (4 percent ABV).

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To calculate how many units you’ve been drinking

Strength (ABV) x Volume (ml) divided by 1000 = number of units.

There should be “several alcohol-free days” and drinking 14 units in one day is considered binge drinking.

MedicAlert said the majority of people who develop high blood pressure can link it to one, or more, of the following causes:

  • Poor diet
  • Lack of exercise
  • Being overweight
  • Smoking
  • Poor sleep quality
  • Too much alcohol
  • Too much caffeine
  • Too much salt

Thus, if you’d like to reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure, you need to lead a healthy lifestyle.

This can be achieved by losing weight (if needs be), exercising every day, eating a healthy diet and reducing your salt intake.

Further measures include not smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, limiting caffeine intake and reducing stress levels.

If you’d like to start making small changes in your life, making exercise a priority is the first one you should consider.

One of the major causes of high blood pressure is the build up of atheroma inside the arteries.

These fatty deposits narrow the space blood can travel through, thereby increasing your blood pressure.

With exercise, over time, these fatty deposits will begin to break down and reduce.

If you’d like to measure your blood pressure, you can order a blood pressure monitor online.

The ideal blood pressure is typically considered to be between 90/60mmHg and 120/80mmHg.

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