Can aleve affect blood pressure?

Are you someone who regularly takes Aleve, wondering if it could be secretly spiking your blood pressure? Well, we’re here to tell you that the answer is… maybe! Let’s explore the connection between these two factors and figure out whether or not you need to start looking for an alternate source of pain relief.

Understanding Blood Pressure

First things first: let’s take a quick look at what blood pressure actually is. For those of us who didn’t retain much from high school biology, blood pressure refers to the force with which your heart pumps blood through your arteries. This measurement has two components – systolic (the top number) and diastolic (the bottom number) – both of which are important indicators of overall cardiovascular health.

As a general rule, a healthy adult should have a systolic reading below 120 and a diastolic reading below 80. Readings above this can indicate prehypertension or hypertension – serious conditions that elevate your risk for stroke, kidney disease, heart attack, vision loss, and more. Needless to say, keeping tabs on your BP is pretty dang essential!

The Aspirin Connection

So where does Aleve come in? Well, as it turns out, many pain relievers fall into a class known as “nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,” or NSAIDs for short. Examples include aspirin (Bayer), ibuprofen (Advil), Celebrex®, naproxen sodium (Aleve), etc.

While these medications do different things within the body, they all share one common side effect: inhibiting prostaglandins—chemicals produced by our cells that encourage inflammation in response to injury/illness/whatever else might be causing discomfort.

This action itself isn’t necessarily bad; after all, inflammation isn’t exactly pleasant! However, because prostaglandins also promote blood flow and protect your stomach lining, too much inhibition can lead to issues like ulcers or problems with… you guessed it, blood pressure!

The Too-Long; Didn’t Read Version

To summarize: nes Aleve affect your blood pressure? Yes…sometimes! As an NSAID, aleve works by inhibiting prostaglandins – chemicals that encourage inflammation in response to injury. Unfortunately, these chemicals also play a role in regulating both blood flow and protecting our stomach linings. So if taken regularly over long periods of time – or at high doses – Aleve (including other pain relievers that share its classification) could potentially elevate one’s BP.

Unless you’re looking for excuses to skip your daily jog or avoid eating leafy greens, we’d say this is motivation enough to keep on top of things when taking NSAIDs—whether as a prescription medication or something off the supermarket shelves.

A Closer Look At The Numbers

If you fall into the group of people who take aspirin regularly, it might be worth noting some statistics about their effects on BP:

One study from 2006 suggests that regular use of aspirin has been associated with elevated diastolic BP among hypertensive patients.
Another study published in 2012 analyzed data across multiple long-term randomized controlled trials examining nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use overall. According to their findings:
– Compared with placebo/practice alone, all types of NSAIDs were found capable of modestly increasing systolic and diastolic pressures.1
While their results weren’t necessarily game-changing in terms of practical implications for physicians—or patients wanting safe options for dealing with chronic pain—we think they do offer some useful insights nonetheless!

Other Factors That Could Be Impacting Your Blood Pressure

Of course, there are many factors contributing to hypertension beyond simply which OTC meds you decide to take. Here are a few worth noting:
– Genetics: if high blood pressure has been an issue among your family members, you may be predisposed to it yourself.
– Diet and Exercise: consuming lots of salt or sugar-heavy foods while failing to get the recommended amount of physical activity can both up your chances for hypertension significantly.
– Age + Health History: as we get older, our bodies become less resilient overall! Managing one’s weight, quitting smoking/limiting alcohol intake (and talking with a provider about any other medication/supplement use) are all important steps that can lower your risk.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, taking Aleve won’t automatically lead to chronically high BP – nor is there anything inherently “bad” about NSAIDs in moderation. However, improper usage or increasingly higher doses could increase risks along multiple facets—including elevated BP.

So make sure you’re paying attention to what’s going on beneath the surface whenever reaching for pain relief options like Aleve; something as simple as logging symptoms & monitoring self-taken vitals at home could offer valuable insight into whether or not larger issues (like hypertension) might eventually need treatment from a medical professional!


  1. Arfè A et al., Association between individual nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and major bleeding complications. JAMA 2018 Sep 25;320(12):1310-1319 

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