How does alcohol abuse affect the cardiovascular system?

From this article you will learn: the positive effect of alcohol on the heart - is it a myth or true, what cardiovascular diseases are associated with alcohol abuse, what is the maximum amount of alcohol-containing products that women and men are allowed to drink.

Author of the article: Nivelichuk Taras, head of the department of anesthesiology and intensive care, work experience 8 years. Higher education in the specialty “General Medicine”.

Article publication date: 05/14/2017

Article updated date: 02/05/2020

For many years, it has been believed that drinking alcohol has a beneficial effect on the heart. It serves as an excuse for many people who drink alcohol in large quantities.

Scientific evidence suggests that ethanol does have certain cardiovascular benefits. However, a prerequisite for the emergence and preservation of these positive properties is moderation in the consumption of alcoholic beverages. If you drink them constantly and in large quantities, this can cause many heart diseases.

Therefore, doctors categorically do not recommend that people who do not drink alcohol start drinking alcohol in order to improve the health of their cardiovascular system.

You can consult a cardiologist or narcologist about how alcohol affects the heart.

Is alcohol good for you?

Although most types of alcoholic beverages have negative effects on the cardiovascular system, some drinks may provide benefits when consumed in moderation. High-quality alcohol increases the level of healthy cholesterol, minimizes the likelihood of the formation of atherosclerotic plaques, and thins the blood.

Red wine

Dry red wine

How alcohol affects the heart depends on the type of drink. Most doctors agree that dry red wine has a beneficial effect on the myocardium. Numerous studies have revealed that if you drink 250 ml of high-quality dry red wine, the effect will be as follows:

the process of hematopoiesis is normalized;
blood circulation will improve;
the walls of blood vessels will cleanse and become more elastic, which prevents the development of atherosclerosis.

Cognac

Cognac, like dry red wine, in moderation is also beneficial for the cardiovascular system (CVS). The drink increases blood circulation and cleanses capillaries. In addition, cognac promotes better absorption of vitamins and beneficial microelements contained in food.

This drink eliminates spasms of capillaries and veins, stimulating the activity of the central nervous system. Another beneficial property of cognac is that it helps fight colds, which also have a negative effect on the myocardium.

Beer and heart

The effect of alcohol on the heart is known to many, but since few dare to give up drinking and look like a black sheep in a company, strong alcohol is replaced with beer. There is confidence that this is a weak and therefore completely harmless drink. The “unobtrusive” suggestion of advertising about the benefits of derivative products distracts attention from the fact that the strength of some modern beers reaches 14%.

This is more than in dry wines. A bottle of light beer, which some people drink simply to quench their thirst, has an alcohol content equal to 60 grams of vodka. In addition, cobalt is added to the drink to retain beer foam. For lovers of this intoxicating product, the cobalt content in the tissues of the heart muscle exceeds the permissible standards by ten times. Where does this lead? All to the same deformation and proliferation of muscle tissue.

The carbon dioxide that fills the drink also has a negative effect on blood vessels. Excessive overcrowding of blood vessels leads to dilation of the veins and heart. Doctors have such a concept as “beer heart” or “nylon stocking” syndrome. This phenomenon occurs as a result of the excessively expanding size of the myocardium and slowing down its work of pumping blood.

Harm to the cardiovascular system

Doctors warn that the effect of alcohol on the heart and blood vessels will be positive only if a person consumes alcohol in minimal quantities and no more than once a week. But it is worth considering that after drinking any doses of alcohol the following happens:

the heart rate increases (after drinking strong drinks, the pulse increases by about 25%);
blood pressure increases;
the load on the myocardium increases;
Due to changes in blood pressure, the body's need for oxygen-enriched blood is constantly changing, so the myocardium malfunctions.

If you follow the norm and do not abuse alcohol, there will be no harm from alcohol. Such changes, on the contrary, will help strengthen the myocardium. But if you drink too much alcohol, the load on the organ increases, especially if you combine drinking alcohol with smoking.

Effect on the heart

On a note! After drinking alcohol, tachycardia appears even in completely healthy people.

How does alcohol affect the human body?

Drinking alcohol is stressful for the body. Long-term consumption of alcoholic beverages leads to the development of:

Disorders related to psychosomatics and neurology, neurosis, depression, mood swings, epilepsy.
Cardiovascular disorders.
Blood clots, pressure changes.
Liver disorders.
Fluid accumulation in the brain.
Unconscious state, etc.

Effect of alcohol on the brain

Drinking alcohol and developing alcoholism leads to irreversible destruction of brain cells. The cells responsible for intelligence, dying, enter the blood through the lymph, then into the kidneys and are excreted from the body naturally.

One hundred grams of alcohol kills about 10 thousand neurons that support the thought process. This phenomenon does not occur without consequences for the body: as a result, the human brain loses mass and volume due to desiccation.

Then the person becomes inadequate, loses the sense of shame, and degradation occurs. Memory and thought process, coordination of movements deteriorate, and reflex arc disorders are formed. Brain damage eventually results in mental problems.

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The effect of alcohol on the cardiovascular system

There is an opinion that drinking alcoholic beverages in moderate doses leads to a decrease in blood pressure, dilates blood vessels and relieves stress. This is wrong.

According to research, ethanol is a poison, a toxic substance that cannot benefit health in any way and has a detrimental effect on all systems of the body. The effect of intoxication occurs due to the suppression of human health.

The vasodilation itself does not last long. Then the vessels narrow again, causing redness of the skin of the face and increased heart rate due to wear and tear of the organ.

According to statistics, the highest mortality rate from heart and vascular diseases is observed in people who abuse alcohol.

The effect of alcohol on the digestive system

What is the mechanism of alcohol's effect on the digestive system? The main part of alcoholic drinks is absorbed through the stomach, so the harmful consequences do not pass by this organ.

Alcohol has a negative effect on the digestive system: when absorbed into the walls of the stomach, it burns and injures them, causing inflammation, heartburn and the development of chronic diseases in the body. There is a disruption in the production of gastric juice, salt, and catalysts. The glands that produce protein catalysts for the normal digestive process gradually die off.

Pancreatitis often develops, because The pancreas does not have the necessary enzymes to break down alcohol. Alcohol also affects the mucous membrane: causing gastritis, gastric ulcers, diabetes, and cancer.

The effect of alcohol on the liver

About 90% of alcohol is broken down in the liver. It can break down about 1 glass of alcohol in 10 hours, and the rest of the alcohol that enters the body destroys cells.

The liver suffers primarily from:

Obesity.
Hepatitis A.
Cirrhosis.

If alcohol consumption is not stopped in case of liver cirrhosis, the disease will develop into cancer.

Effect on the kidneys

The kidneys not only produce and excrete urine. They balance the acid-base and water balance and influence the production of hormones.

What kidney problems does alcohol cause?

When a person drinks alcohol, the excretory system begins to work in enhanced mode. The kidneys circulate a lot of fluid and remove harmful substances from the body.

Constant overload weakens renal functionality - they gradually lose the ability to work hard. The effect of alcoholic drinks on the kidneys can be seen after the holiday by a swollen face and increased blood pressure.

The body also accumulates fluid that the kidneys are unable to remove, resulting in the formation of stones. In the absence of timely treatment, renal failure develops. The organ loses the ability to form and excrete urine. Severe intoxication occurs and, as a result, death.

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The effect of alcohol on reproductive function

Drinking alcohol also negatively affects human reproductive function. Cell damage in women is irreversible : they remain in the system and pose a danger to the fetus. A fertilized cell damaged by alcohol increases the risk of serious disorders, development and occurrence of genetic diseases, i.e. has a negative effect on the fetus. No one guarantees that the diseased cell will be fertilized, but no one is immune from sad situations.

The male body is built differently and has the ability to update reproduction. However, in order to completely restore the composition of sperm, it should take about 3-6 months. If no alcohol was consumed during this time, the sperm are completely renewed.

Also, in addition to the germ cells, the entire system suffers: there is a decrease in libido and a deterioration in the quality of organ function, which affects the entire body as a whole.

The effect of alcohol also causes hormonal mutations (hormones break down due to toxins, incorrect production occurs). Over time, a woman’s body begins to suffer from an excess of male hormones (testosterone), and of men – female hormones (estrogen). The appearance and character change, mental disorders occur and impotence develops.

The effect of alcohol on the respiratory system

Some time after drinking alcohol, many people experience bad breath and heavy breathing. This is due to the fact that part of the ethanol is excreted from the body through the lungs.

Alcohol (especially strong alcohol - cognac, vodka) that enters the body dries out the bronchi, the lung surface, and causes a lack of oxygen. Patients experience shortness of breath and attacks of suffocation. Associated chronic diseases appear.

Causes of pain

Almost every alcoholic complains that a few days after drinking alcohol, heart pain appears. In most cases, such symptoms are caused by spasms of the coronary vessels. More often, pain makes itself felt 2-3 days after consuming alcohol during recovery from binge drinking.

The pain is aching or pulling. Their intensity does not depend on physical activity, and it is not possible to minimize symptoms even with the help of nitroglycerin. The attack may last for several hours.

In most cases, it is accompanied not only by pain, but also by increased heartbeat and a feeling of lack of air. If you abuse alcohol, a similar disorder will occur over time even in a healthy person who has not complained about his heart. Pathology can manifest itself as:

tachycardia;
extrasystoles;
attack of atrial flutter;
conduction disturbances in the heart like blockade.

Beneficial effects of ethanol on the heart muscle

Drinkers often attribute their passion for alcoholic beverages to data supposedly confirmed by official medicine about their health benefits. “We don’t drink, we heal” – this slogan often justifies alcohol abuse. What is really hidden behind this? What do cardiologists say about this?

Interesting data is provided by statistics on the connection between heart disease and alcohol consumption. The performance curve is U-shaped. That is, the smallest percentage of heart disease is observed among those who take alcohol, but in very small doses. The following standards are considered normal: for an adult male, a harmless daily dose consists of 60-70 grams of vodka, or 200-250 ml of dry wine, or 300-350 ml of beer. Women's standards are three times less than men's.

What is the benefit of alcohol in such quantities?

The level of cholesterol on the walls of blood vessels decreases, and the risk of atherosclerosis decreases.
Small doses of alcohol promote the production of “good” cholesterol, which displaces “bad” cholesterol from the body.
Dry wines have bactericidal properties.
Red wines help increase hemoglobin levels in the blood.

Why don't doctors offer alcohol treatment? The fact is that the line between normal and supernormal is very fragile. Most people, after drinking alcohol, simply cease to feel this line, and constant “treatment” goes into the stage of alcoholism. But here the effect on the heart and other organs is sharply opposite.

Think before you fill your glasses and be healthy!

Amount of alcohol safe for the heart

How alcohol will affect the cardiovascular system depends on the individual characteristics of the person, the quality and quantity of alcohol. To minimize the harm from alcohol, men can drink no more than 2 standard doses per day, and women - 1. It is believed that in such an amount alcohol will not be harmful, but, on the contrary, will benefit the body. The safe dose varies depending on the type of drink:

light beer with a strength of 5% – 360 ml;
red or white wine – 150 ml;
vodka – 45 ml.

It is worth considering that by standard dose, doctors mean the amount of drink that contains 14 g of ethyl alcohol. In addition to beer, wine and vodka, you can consume any other drink that is similar in strength to the above compounds.

What dose of alcohol will damage the heart?

The main component of any alcoholic drink is ethyl alcohol. It begins to enter the blood within 5-7 minutes after administration. The effect of alcohol on the heart depends on the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed. But even a small single dose increases the load on our main organ: vasospasm occurs, and the heart needs to work twice as hard to deliver blood. Your heart rate immediately increases by 10-15%. Smoking that accompanies drinking doubles the load.

After two to three hours, ethyl alcohol penetrates the myocardium. Its toxic effect causes arrhythmia and a temporary decrease in blood pressure occurs. The harmful effects of alcohol quickly pass, the functions of the heart and circulatory system are restored, but the trouble is that the first dose is followed by a second and third.

Experts have found that the dosage of ethanol, the excess of which leads to disturbances in the functioning of the heart, is equal to 28.5 g per day, which is equal to approximately 90 ml of vodka or 220 ml of red wine. Although another group of experts does not entirely agree with these figures and notes the maximum dosage of red wine is 150 ml.

Contraindications and consumption patterns for certain diseases

Alcohol abuse often causes the development of cardiovascular diseases. Also, drinking alcohol too often can provoke the progression of existing cardiac pathology. Patients diagnosed with heart disease need to be very careful about their health and try to completely eliminate alcohol consumption.

Arrhythmia

What will be the effect of alcohol on the heart, and how much alcohol is allowed, depends on the type of disease:

Arrhythmia. Alcohol-containing drinks provoke the progression of the disease, which over time can lead to heart failure. Alcohol is especially dangerous in the paroxysmal form of atrial fibrillation.
Tachycardia. If the disease has become chronic, alcohol should be completely avoided, since drinking alcohol can cause serious complications, including death.
Angina pectoris. With this disease, doctors allow consuming no more than 40 ml of strong alcohol no more than 2 times a month. You should abstain from beer, champagne or wine.
Heart disease. It is allowed to drink 150 ml of dry red wine or 40 ml of cognac no more than 2 times a week.

It is necessary to completely eliminate alcohol in case of heart failure, as well as if the patient has recently undergone myocardial surgery. The doctor will tell you whether it will be possible to drink in the future, taking into account your state of health and how successful the rehabilitation was.

How to avoid the negative effects of alcoholic drinks on the heart

If a person wants to avoid the negative effects of alcohol on the heart, he needs to remember the following tips:

Drink alcohol only in recommended safe quantities.
If you have ever had problems with drinking alcohol, you are strictly prohibited from starting to drink.
If you have high blood pressure, you should treat alcoholic products with extreme caution. Doctors recommend completely stopping their use until blood pressure is normalized.
If you notice that you cannot stop drinking alcohol in time, you should stop drinking alcohol completely.
Patients with cardiovascular diseases should remember that for them, alcohol and heart are incompatible.

Heart pain after drinking alcohol

Many people who drink several times a week complain that the next day after drinking alcohol they feel a painful sensation, as if something is pressing on their heart. If such symptoms occur, you need to undergo an examination, since it indicates irreversible changes in the structures and functioning of the heart muscle due to the harmful effects of ethanol.

Ethyl alcohol reduces the tone of the coronary arteries, which leads to improper distribution of potassium and magnesium in the tissues of the heart. Because of this, a person feels pain. It often happens that pain appears several days after drinking alcohol. At the same time, shortness of breath, excessive sweating, and dizziness may occur. Also, many patients experience severe swelling.

Important! Heart pain after drinking alcohol may indicate angina pectoris.
Also, a similar symptom is often observed in pre-infarction conditions. A particularly dangerous sign is a cutting pain that does not subside for more than an hour.

Impaired heart function

It is not possible to avoid atherosclerosis, even if a person drinks alcohol moderately. Any dose of alcohol provokes functional disorders of the myocardium:

Ethanol in an aqueous environment dissolves fats, causes red blood cells (erythrocytes) to clump together and clog capillaries. After drinking alcohol, fats are intensively deposited in the liver and heart.
The effect of ethyl alcohol on the heart is detrimental; it contributes to the development of arrhythmia and cardiomyopathy (primary myocardial damage). These pathologies provoke pain in the heart area, and sometimes cardiac arrest.
19 g of pure alcohol per day contributes to the development of hypertension. The higher the daily dose, the more dangerous the consequences.

The threshold for the harmful effects of alcohol is 150 ml of dry wine or 60 ml of strong alcoholic drinks (for example, vodka).

Restoring the cardiovascular system after alcoholism

Whether it will be possible to restore the functioning of the cardiovascular system after prolonged alcohol consumption, and which method will be more appropriate, depends on the type and severity of the pathology. Myocardial restoration is facilitated by moderate physical activity, giving up bad habits, regular walks in the fresh air, and diet correction.

Exercise stress

Patients are almost always prescribed medications (beta-blockers, cardiac glycosides, antiarrhythmic drugs). The regimen, dosage and duration of therapy are selected individually for each patient.

Alcohol for heart patients

If completely healthy people begin to feel unwell after drinking excessively, then a diseased heart reacts to alcohol much more seriously.
Already 20-60 ml of pure alcohol pose a threat to the core. Large and frequent drinking sessions further provoke an increase in blood pressure, the risk of heart attacks and strokes increases, and the development of concomitant diseases increases. More than 30 percent of sudden cardiac arrests are associated with pathology caused by alcohol consumption.

If completely healthy people begin to feel unwell after drinking excessively, then a diseased heart reacts to alcohol much more seriously. Already 20-60 ml of pure alcohol pose a threat to the core.

How to help your heart after alcohol?

To choose the most effective and safe treatment regimen for a person’s heart, you need to consult a doctor. If a hospital is unavailable, you can try to alleviate the condition in the following ways:

For high blood pressure

If your blood pressure has increased significantly due to alcohol abuse, you must immediately stop drinking and remove the remaining alcohol from your body. If such actions do not help and the pressure does not decrease even after several hours, you need to take any enterosorbent (activated carbon, Polysorb).

You cannot use special medications designed to lower blood pressure, as it should decrease gradually. Sedatives can only be taken on the recommendation of a doctor.

A prerequisite for effective therapy is avoidance of salt, coffee, and strong tea. The patient also needs to quit smoking.

For pathology of the heart muscle

If a person has developed cardiac pathologies due to alcoholism, treatment should only be carried out under the supervision of a doctor. Regardless of the disease, the patient will have to give up alcohol, since heart medications cannot be combined with ethanol. This combination increases the risk of complications.

In addition, ethyl alcohol can neutralize the therapeutic effect of drugs. In most cases, the following groups of drugs are used:

means that improve the nutrition of the heart muscle;
B vitamins;
beta blockers;
blood thinners;
potassium and magnesium salts.

For heart failure, diuretics and cardiac glycosides are additionally prescribed.

Treating the effects of alcohol on the heart

Comprehensive treatment of alcoholism also includes measures to eliminate alcoholic cardiomyopathies. They begin with detoxification. Specific medications are introduced into the cleansing droppers.

To eliminate complaints and symptoms of AK, you need:

Prescription of drugs to relieve pain. For this purpose, the patient should take Corvalol in small doses, validol, valerian tablets, nitroglycerin.
Elimination of degenerative processes in muscle tissue by injections of cocarboxylase and ATP.
Relieving attacks of arrhythmias with groups of appropriate medications, in particular Panangin.
Stimulation of impaired coronary microcirculation. Cinnarizine has proven itself well for these purposes.
General restorative therapy to prevent the development of heart failure. Therapeutic doses of calcium preparations successfully cope with this task.

A therapist provides assistance in eliminating the negative consequences of long-term alcoholism.

First aid

If you feel bad about your heart after drinking alcohol, self-treatment is not recommended. You can relieve pain at home before the ambulance arrives in the following ways:

you need to take 25 drops of Valocardin or drink motherwort tincture;
it is necessary to dissolve 2 tablets of Validol;
A tablet of acetylsalicylic acid will help normalize blood circulation;
You can rinse your face with cold water.

Valocordin