(RxWiki News) Sometimes, there is nothing you can do to protect yourself from disease. However, simply changing some of your habits can help you avoid other health problems like high blood pressure.
New research finds drinking too much coffee or alcohol can increase your blood pressure. Making lifestyle changes can help control blood pressure.
"Help control your blood pressure by drinking less coffee or alcohol."
In two recent studies, researchers have underlined the connection between lifestyle choices and blood pressure.
In one study, Dr. Esther Lopez-Garcia, from Autonoma University of Madrid in Spain, and colleagues found that drinking one and a half to two cups of coffee increased people's blood pressure for up to three hours.
Drinking the same amount of coffee did not have an effect on blood pressure after one week.
According to Lopez-Garcia, these findings are important for patients who have uncontrolled high blood pressure. Because caffeine can cause a rapid increase in blood pressure, these patients should avoid drinking lots of coffee.
In another study, Dr. Agarwal, from St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, and colleagues looked at the effects of alcohol on blood pressure in more than 158,000 men and 314,000 women.
Drinking alcohol increased men's risk of high blood pressure. The more alcohol that men drank per day, the higher their risk of high blood pressure.
Women, on the other hand, were protected from high blood pressure if they drank less than 10 grams of alcohol per day. Their risk increased if they drank more than 30 grams per day.
According to Dr. Agarwal, it's important for patients, and especially for men, to think about how much alcohol they are drinking when they are trying to control their blood pressure.
