Does Drinking Alcohol Increase Your Heart Rate?

You can just feel it sometimes after you’ve had a few beers with friends or had a couple of glasses of wine at a party. Maybe your smartwatch has even tracked a heart rate spike after that second spritzer. In any case, your heart is definitely beating faster — and not just from the social vibe.

But it’s not a problem, right?

Does alcohol increase heart rate?

First, let’s back up a bit. If you drink alcohol at all, experts say you should do so in moderation. There are a number of ways alcohol affects our health — and not in a good way. And when it comes to alcohol and heart health, there are real concerns, including increased heart rate.

So, the short answer is, yes — drinking alcohol will increase your heart rate. Your watch was definitely smart enough to tell you the truth, or at least part of it. Whether it’s dangerous is a more complicated matter.

“Wearable technology and fitness trackers that measure heart rate have certainly made many people more aware, so that’s a good thing,” says cardiologist Ashish Sarraju, MD.

“But really, it’s probably more important to know if you have an established history of heart conditions, something that a smartwatch doesn’t reveal.”

Essentially, Dr. Sarraju says that it’s safest to abstain from alcohol (you’ll hear this again). But if you do drink, limit yourself, and hydrate as you libate.

To dig a bit deeper into this relationship between heart rate and alcohol use, we talked with Dr. Sarraju about the science — and some serious concerns about alcohol use and increased heart rate.

Why does alcohol increase heart rate?

This may not seem to make sense at first — isn’t alcohol a depressant? Doesn’t it relax me? Slow me down?

Yes, in a way, alcohol does slow you down, but maybe not in the way you think. What it really means is alcohol slows down how well your brain controls your body, including your breathing.

But a pint of IPA or a tall glass of Merlot or a strong Moscow Mule also dilates your blood vessels. That forces your heart to pump harder and faster just to get the same amount of blood around your body.

And your heart rate — the number of beats per minute (bpm) — increases. This means an increase from the starting point of your “resting heart rate,” when you’re not exerting yourself.

Also, alcohol is a diuretic, meaning that it makes you pee more, and that can lead to dehydration. And —­ you guessed it — dehydration also increases heart rate. That’s because your body tries to compensate for the decrease in water by pumping more blood more rapidly.

“This effect has even been referred to as ‘holiday heart syndrome,’ for people who don’t usually drink much may experience it with friends or family over a holiday,” Dr. Sarraju shares.

Factors that affect heart rate while drinking

But how you drink — fast or slow, with or without food — and how old you are can also determine how alcohol might affect your heart rate. Simply put, it’s better to sip than guzzle and it’s always better to enjoy that drink with some food.

And while in some respect males, on the whole, may tolerate more alcohol because of generally larger body size, that’s not the whole story. Better to be cautious about jumping to conclusions about males, females and body size and the relative effects of alcohol, Dr. Sarraju cautions.

“There’s this idea that a ‘big guy’ can ‘handle his liquor’ more than a smaller person, but there are also big guys who may have more body fat or other conditions that may make the long-term effects of alcohol worse,” he says.

He also points out that the individual effects on metabolic health (triglycerides, weight, blood pressure) may still be considerable. “Other studies show similar effects on men and women. In short, you can’t just assume anything based on broad generalizations. It’s far more important to know your own history and your limitations,” he says.

Why would an increased heart rate be dangerous?

An increased heart rate isn’t always a problem, but it can be dangerous, even life-threatening, if you’ve got other conditions.

One of the most important things your heart does is keep a rhythm. On average, a regular heart rate is about 60 to 100 beats per minute when your body is at rest.

But alcohol can lead to your heart rate temporarily jumping up in speed, and if it goes over 100 beats per minute when at rest, it can cause a condition called tachycardia. Too many episodes of tachycardia could lead to more serious issues like heart failure or arrhythmia (irregular rhythms), which can cause heart attack and stroke.

The most common type of arrhythmia is atrial fibrillation (also called Afib or AF), an irregular heart rhythm that begins in the upper chambers (atria) of your heart. If you have atrial fibrillation, the normal cycle of electrical impulses in your heart is interrupted. This leads to a fast, chaotic heart rhythm and poor movement of blood from your atria to your lower chambers (ventricles).

Knowing whether you already have Afib or any other condition is critical to knowing whether you should drink at all.

“If your resting heart rate is 60 and it goes up to 80 when you drink alcohol, I wouldn’t generally associate that with any serious issues,” Dr. Sarraju says. “But if you constantly get dehydrated, develop arrhythmias or experience palpitations or lightheadedness, then you may be in trouble.”

And once again: “If you’re concerned about any of these things, abstaining is the safest thing,” he stresses.

How to slow your heart rate while drinking

Are there ways to manage this heart rate acceleration?

Yes, and here we go again: The simplest and healthiest way is just to not have a drink.

But if you do make the choice to drink, stop at one.

Some research suggests that the impact of having what researchers call a “standard drink” has a limited effect on your heart rate and for only about six hours — if you really stop at one.

In the U.S., a standard drink contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol, or about:

• 12 ounces of beer (5% alcohol content; keep in mind that many craft beers have an alcohol content of 7%-9%)
• 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol content)
• 1.5 ounces or a “shot” of distilled spirits or liquor (40% alcohol content)

That same research shows that drinking greater amounts of alcohol (greater than 30 grams; so, more than two drinks) increases your heart rate up to 24 hours. While moderate drinking increases the rate by about half that time.

Bottom line? Dr. Sarraju says that the research and our collective experience agree: “It’s simply better not to drink alcohol at all. But because we live in a social world and that’s just not the reality for many people, we would do well to moderate and manage it.

“So, don’t rush to have that second drink before you have glass of water between drinks. Your body will thank you.”