Too much alcohol causes damage to your heart, even if you are young and fit, say the authors of a new study that adds yet another reason to keep drinking to a minimum.
Scientists studied 200 young men and women who go out regularly and drink two or three alcoholic drinks. All had peak blood alcohol levels of up to 0.25 per cent during the study, a level that means you feel numb, confused, disoriented and possibly nauseous, doctors say; alcohol poisoning generally happens at 0.35 per cent.
The scientists checked the participants’ heart rate before, during and after the drinking session. While the participants were drinking alcohol, they had an increasingly rapid pulse of more than 100 beats per minute.
A normal heart rate should be regular and between 60 and 100 beats a minute when you’re resting, according to Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). In the group, 5 per cent suffered worrying levels of arrhythmia – most of which occurred during their recovery phase.