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The Red Wine Blood Pressure Experiment

Posted by on Nov 27, 2006 | 4 Comments

Call me the intrepid reporter, but I’ve become absolutely fascinated by the whole red wine-blood pressure connection. So fascinated that I’ve devised a little experiment, in real time. I’m going to take my blood pressure before and after imbibing a couple of glasses of red wine tonight, and post photos of the blood pressure monitor, before and after.

Yes my friends, I am willing to imbibe for my craft!

I was taken aback by my blood pressure reading one night last week. This was just days after penning a piece about red wine and chocolate supposedly being good for the heart.

On a whim, I took my blood pressure shortly after downing a couple of glasses of Merlot. I usually take my blood pressure at roughly the same time each night… while winding down on the couch, soaking up some TV. My blood pressure usually floats in the range of 115 over 15.

On that night, after two glasses of Merlot, my blood pressure dropped all the way down to ninety-something over fifty-something.

Lets just say that I was pretty darn relaxed, because I can’t remember the exact numbers.

I’m not a wine aficionado. Never have been. (I admit to having gone on a jaunt through a few Napa wineries a number of years ago, after a Seybold San Francisco conference… but I only did it to kill a day to gain that cheaper flight home.)

We’ll see how the experiment goes tonight…

Due to deadline constraints, I’ll be posting the photos and a write-up on my site.

[tags]red wine, blood pressure, Napa, Seybold Seminar[/tags]

  • http://www.geekbooks.com/ Dan Gray

    Quick correction … my blood pressure usually floats in the range of 120-something over 70-something. (I couldn’t get back in to make the edit once the article was posted …)

  • Richard Fortuno

    Merlot ou Pinot Noir ?
    Il faudrait savoir !
    Le médicament est bien connu; associé à des huitres les médecins le recommande comme reconstituant pour les personne anémiées.
    Meilleurs sentiments de Bordeaux !!!

  • Steve Hazlett

    Drinking any alcohol will lower your blood pressure while the alcohol is in your system doing its thing. That’s because alcohol is a depressant. Try your experiment with a few cocktails and you’ll probably see similar results. And then you’ll see that when the alcohol wears off, your blood pressure will go back up, perhaps to a higher level than normal, The bottom line: long term alcohol use contributes to higher blood pressure.

  • Geena

    I was skimming around the net about hypertension. I saw a special on tv yesterday, National Geographic-I think, and they were doing a similar experiment. First, they had a couple of guys drink red wine and lay down. They did the same with white wine, and bp did go down in all participants. They say it is because the alcohol opens up the blood vessels. But also we have to remember that it isn’t just the alcohol especially if you have healthy eating habits. Low Na(sodium)diet, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, exercise, and most importantly manage stress. As the experiment shows, the wine relaxed the man, so relaxing released the tension opening up the vessels. Of course, not recommended for long term use.