How long does alcohol stay in your body and is there a way to sober up quicker?

How fast you metabolise alcohol depends on many factors (Picture: Getty Images)

We all know the effects of alcohol can occur almost instantly and last for days (thank you, hangovers). But learning how long alcohol actually lasts in your system is vital for staying safe when drinking.

This can help you ensure any traces are gone from your body so you can legally drive, or drink more carefully to mitigate its impact on your sleep and health.

While everyone’s reaction is different, the human body goes through a number of processes to clear booze out, mainly involving metabolism in the liver.

Ian Budd, a pharmacist for Chemist4U, tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Once ingested, alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream through the stomach and small intestine. The liver metabolises approximately 90% of alcohol via enzymes such as alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), converting alcohol into acetaldehyde, then to acetic acid, and eventually to carbon dioxide and water, which are excreted.

‘A small percentage of alcohol is also excreted unchanged through urine, sweat, and breath.’

It sounds scientific, but working out the time it takes to go from drunk to sober is really more of a numbers game.

How long does alcohol stay in your body?

According to Ian, he liver breaks down alcohol into the other compounds at around one drink per hour.

‘One standard drink is typically defined as containing approximately 10 grams of pure alcohol,’ he explains.

‘For instance, this might equate to a small glass of wine (125 ml at 12% alcohol by volume), a half-pint of beer (approximately 250 ml at 5% alcohol by volume), or a single measure of spirits (25 ml at 40% alcohol by volume).’

One shot of alcohol can be metabolised in around an hour (Credits: Getty Images)

As mentioned, however, this can vary from person to person.

Ian says: ‘Generally, individuals with higher body weight tend to metabolise alcohol faster due to a larger volume of distribution for alcohol in the body. However, other factors like age can slow metabolism, including alcohol metabolism, as liver function typically declines with age.

‘Sex differences also play a role, with women often metabolising alcohol more slowly than men due to differences in body composition and enzyme activity.’

Just because alcohol is metabolised doesn’t mean the effects have warn off, though.

‘Even if one drink per hour is metabolised, multiple drinks can still pose a significant risk due to residual impairment,’ Ian adds.

Why you should alternate alcoholic and soft drinks

Alternating drinks on a night out is known as ‘zebra striping’.

Ian previously told Metro that one of the big benefits to zebra striping is that it gives your body to process alcohol before drinking more, saying: ‘By drinking water in between alcoholic drinks, you give your liver more time to process the booze, which results in a lower peak blood alcohol concentration which reduces the acute effects of alcohol, such as impaired cognitive function, coordination and judgement.’

Plus, alcohol can still be detected in your system, either as alcohol itself or as the byproducts of booze. This means you might still fail a breathalyser test (which shows clear results when the blood alcohol concentration drops below 0.01%) several hours later.

Similarly, urine tests can detect alcohol metabolites for up to 48 hours after drinking, and hair tests cover an even longer period, potentially up to 90 days, although they’re more to indicate patterns of chronic use rather than recent drinking.

How to clear alcohol from your body quickly

The only effective way to ensure alcohol is out of your system is to avoid booze. And while there are a lot of rumours and old wives tales around how to get rid of it faster, Ian highlights ‘there is no scientifically proven method to significantly speed up the process of alcohol clearance from the body.’

He continues: ‘Common myths include drinking coffee, taking cold showers or engaging in physical exercise, but these do not increase the rate of alcohol metabolism.

‘The most effective way to allow the body to clear alcohol is simply time. Staying hydrated, eating nutritious food, and resting can support overall health, but they do not hasten the elimination of alcohol from the system.’

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