How Long Does Alcohol Stay in Your System? – Loosid
Alcohol
beverages comes in three distinct varieties: beer, wine, and liquor. However,
regardless of which type of alcohol you consume, the amount of time it takes
for your body to eliminate the alcohol in your bloodstream from each of these
drinks will depend on a host of factors specific to your physiology. Factors
such as weight, sex, and age will all affect the rate at which your body
absorbs and eliminates alcohol from your system.
When you drink alcohol, it is absorbed into
your bloodstream through the lining of your stomach and intestines. Then the
alcohol is distributed throughout your body, affecting almost all of your
bodily functions, including your kidneys, bladder, liver, lungs, heart, and
skin. Because alcohol is distributed throughout your entire body, how long it
is detectable for will depend on which type of test is used and how much
alcohol you consumed.
On average, it will take your body one hour to
remove one standard drink from your bloodstream. If you have several drinks in
rapid succession, it will take your body one hour to remove each serving,
extending the period for which alcohol will remain in your system. Those who
drink more regularly and whose bodies have adapted to higher levels of alcohol
intake can process alcohol more quickly. Thus, their bodies can eliminate the
same amount of alcohol more efficiently.
How Long
Does Alcohol Remain Detectable in Your System?
Saliva, a popular alcohol test,
can read positive for alcohol up to two hours after your last drink. It will be
detectable in your urine, sweat, and breath for as long as your liver is
breaking down alcohol. As we mentioned, alcohol is dispersed throughout your
entire body by your blood, meaning that traces of it remain in your hair. Due
to the slow growth and replacement rate of hair, tests can detect alcohol in
your hair for up to 90 days after your last drink!
·
Saliva test: detectable 2
hours after consumption
·
Urine test: detectable 12 to
80 hours after consumption
·
Breath test: detectable up to
24 hours after consumption
·
Hair test: detectable for 90
days after consumption
These are just average times, and several
factors will determine the actual length of time that alcohol can remain in
your system. We will review a few of those factors here. But first, let’s look
at what constitutes a single serving of alcohol (based on the type of drink),
how it affects your system, and how your body processes this intoxicant.
A Standard
Drink
Different forms of alcoholic beverages have
different alcohol percentages by volume (abv.), and as such, the amount that
determines a single serving varies.
One standard drink by beverage type:
·
25 oz. (37 mL) for 80 proof (40% abv.) liquor
·
12 oz. (355 mL) for beer
·
7 oz. (207 mL) for malt liquor
·
4-5 oz. (118-148 mL) for wine
·
10 oz. (295 mL) for wine cooler
Glass sizes can also vary, and many types of
glassware designed for alcohol will exceed these single-serving measurements
when filled.
A large wine glass can hold 8–10 ounces, which
is two servings. A pint glass (or solo cup) can hold 16 ounces, which is three
servings of beer!
These measurements are taken from the
University of Notre Dame’s Division of Student Affairs site on safe alcohol
consumption.
The NIH also has several online alcohol
calculators that can be very helpful, including
serving size by the glass, a mixed drink calculator, and a blood alcohol
content (BAC) calculator.
What Happens
When You Drink Alcohol & How Your Body Removes It
Alcohol’s first stop is your stomach followed
by your intestines, both of which absorb alcohol through capillaries in their
linings. The bloodborne alcohol then passes to your liver through the portal
vein. When it first arrives, some of the alcohol will be processed out.
Whatever amount remains is then passed into the rest of your bloodstream, which
carries the substance throughout the rest of your body.
Once it has entered your broader circulatory
system, it spreads to every major organ, including your kidneys, heart, and
brain. Alcohol’s ability to reach almost every part of your body is why it can
cause so many different issues, including myopathy (muscle tissue disease),
heart myopathy, (heart disease), pancreatitis, gastritis (stomach
inflammation), polyneuropathy (peripheral nerve disease), and many more.
Alcohol reaches every tissue and organ in your body except fat and bone.
Your liver will remove most of the alcohol as
it continues to circulate through your blood, although your kidneys, lungs
(through exhalation), and skin (through sweating) are also potential ways of
removing alcohol from your blood. Because of this, alcohol can be detected in
urine, breath, and sweat testing.
How Your
Liver Processes Alcohol
Because a human liver can only process one
serving of alcohol per hour, the length of time that alcohol stays in your
system will depend heavily on the amount of alcohol you have consumed in a
given amount of time. Consuming several generous sized beverages in a short
period could mean that your BAC is above the legal limit the morning after!
That’s why heavy drinking can cause a variety
of alcohol-related
diseases and disorders. Alcohol reaches all body
tissues except bone and fat.
The Division of Student Affairs from Notre Dame
University list these average BACs based on consumption rate:
|
185lb male
|
Time until
BAC = 0
|
|
2 drinks
in 1 hour = .025 BAC
|
1 hour
|
|
3 drinks
in 1 hour = .045 BAC
|
3 hours
|
|
5 drinks
in 1 hour = .085 BAC
|
5+ hours
|
|
130lb
female
|
Time until
BAC = 0
|
|
2 drinks
in 1 hour= .053 BAC
|
3+ hours
|
|
3 drinks
in 1 hour = .088 BAC
|
6 hours
|
|
4 drinks
in2 hours= .106 BAC
|
7 hours
|
Remember that BAC measures the alcohol content
of your blood; however, alcohol can remain in different parts of your system
for more extended periods. For more information on what BAC means and how to
calculate it, check out verywellmind.com’s guide.
These are average times given for a male and
female of a certain weight. Several factors can affect your body’s ability to
process alcohol.
Factors That
Can Affect Your BAC
There are several aspects particular to your
body and mind that can affect how you metabolize (process) alcohol and can
alter your BAC—the percentage of alcohol in your blood.
Let’s take a look at a few of those
considerations:
Food
You should never drink on an empty stomach
because the effects of alcohol can be more severe. The rate at which you absorb
alcohol will depend on what and how much you have had to eat. Protein-rich
foods like tofu, meat, and cheese will slow down your body’s absorption even
more than other foods.
A person who has consumed no food and then
begins to drink will reach peak BAC at 30 minutes to two hours, depending on
how much they drink.
Eating beforehand can slow this down and can
see BAC peak anywhere from 1 to 6 hours, again depending on the amount of
alcohol consumed.
The Strength
of the Drink
More potent drinks not only contain more
alcohol, but they inhibit the mucous membranes that line the gastrointestinal
tract slowing down your absorption rate. And of course, higher
proof/percentages of alcohol will lead to increased BAC.
Rate of
Consumption
Consuming drinks more quickly will allow the
alcohol to enter your bloodstream before the liver has a chance to break it
down, leading to a higher BAC.
Functional
Tolerance
Functional tolerance is a behavioural
adaptation to alcohol and does not affect how quickly your body processes
alcohol; instead, it alters the strength of the affects you feel. Having a
higher functional tolerance equates to feeling less drunk but has no actual
impact on your BAC.
The Division of Student Affairs from Notre Dame
University suggests that having a functional tolerance of 50%—meaning it takes
twice as many drinks to feel the same effects as it once used to—could indicate
that someone has or is developing a problematic relationship with alcohol.
Mood
Your mood can affect the way you react to
alcohol upon ingestion. Many people enjoy the uplifting effects of a couple of
drinks; these usually feel these effects at a BAC of .02-.05. However, once you
reach ~.07 BAC, the mood elevation can give way to more negative emotions.
Drinking
often amplifies stress-related moods such as anxiety, depression, and anger,
and they can also affect the enzymes present in your stomach, which alters how
your body metabolizes alcohol.
Alcohol
Expectancy
It is not just your mood that can affect how
you process and react to alcohol, so can your intentions. Several studies have
shown that your intent when consuming can have an even more significant impact
on the effects you feel than the amount of alcohol!
Those who intend to get “drunk” can feel strong
inebriation effects even on imitation non-alcoholic drinks like
“mocktails” and “alcohol-free beer.”
Fatigue
Feeling tired can produce many of the same
deleterious effects as alcohol, and as such, consuming alcohol when you are
already feeling fatigued can magnify these feelings leading to an
intensification of your intoxication. Fatigue also affects your organs, and
your liver will not be able to eliminate alcohol as quickly, allowing it to
linger in your system for extended periods. The result is a higher BAC than you
might typically get when rested.
Illness
When you are sick, your body is also usually
dehydrated, which decreases the water in your bloodstream, leading to a higher
BAC. Dehydration also affects your liver’s ability to metabolize alcohol. We
often also take medications when we are sick, either over-the-counter or
prescribed, both of which can interact with alcohol and lead to problems.
Medication
Most people are either unaware or forget that
alcohol is a drug and can interact with other medications in your system. You
should always consult with your physician or pharmacist before consuming
alcohol with other medicines, even over-the-counter varieties. This
conversation needs to include a discussion about dosage, the amount of alcohol,
as well. When doctors or physicians refer to “social drinking,” they generally
mean one to two drinks per night. Talk to your healthcare professional for
guidance and be explicit when discussing the amount of alcohol intake that is
appropriate.
There are several ways that alcohol can
interact with medications. Cold medicines and pain killers can multiply the
effects by as much as ten times, turning what would otherwise be lightly
intoxicating amounts of alcohol into dangerous overconsumption.
The liver also processes several other types of
drugs, and taking them in combination with alcohol can be very dangerous for
your health. If you take over-the-counter medications—including herbal
medicines and supplements—or prescriptions, talk to your healthcare provider
about any potential interactions with alcohol.
Body Weight
& Biological Sex
As men tend to weigh more, these two factors
are often related. However, there are other differences between men and women
that can alter how they process and react to alcohol.
The more you weigh, the more body mass you have
to diffuse the alcohol through which can lead to a lower BAC.
Aside
from weight, men, and women, on average, have different levels of
dehydrogenase—which we mentioned earlier is responsible for breaking down
alcohol. Less of this enzyme equates to slower processing, which will lead to
alcohol staying in your system longer. It also means that people who have less
dehydrogenase will reach a higher BAC than those who have more.
Hormone levels also affect how long alcohol stays
in your system. Those drinking the same amount of alcohol before menstruation
will produce higher BACs than at other points in their cycle.
Women also tend to have a higher percentage of
body fat and a lower percentage of water, which will also alter the
intoxicating effects of
alcohol and how long it remains in their body’s
system.
Age
As we age, our bodies go through multiple
changes, including a decrease in metabolism, loss of muscle tissue, decreased
hydration levels, and a decrease in organ functioning. All of these factors
will affect how long alcohol stays in the system of older adults—leading to
increased intoxication effects and BAC.
Now that we have looked at all these factors
that affect the processing of alcohol in our bodies let’s take a look at how
long it can take you to sober
up, depending on your BAC.
Length of
Time to Reach Sobriety
As we have seen, several factors can affect
your BAC and how your body reacts to and processes alcohol. However, most
people’s bodies can remove alcohol at a rate of 0.015 grams of alcohol per
deciliter of blood every hour—roughly one drink per hour.
If you have a blood alcohol content of .08, it
will stay in your system for nearly five and a half hours. A .20 BAC can take
anywhere from 12 to 14 hours to reach 0.
The Student Health
Services program of Southern Illinois University provides
an illuminating chart:
|
BAC
|
Time Until
Sober
|
|
.04
|
2.5 hours
|
|
.08
|
5 hours
|
|
.10
|
6.25 hours
|
|
.16
|
10 hours
|
|
.20
|
12.5 hours
|
Conclusion
How long alcohol stays in your system and the
effects you will feel depend on several considerations that are specific to
your body. Alcohol is detectable in your body, depending on the test used, for
anywhere from 2 hours to 90 days!
Need help or know someone who needs help with
alcohol dependency issues? Join the Loosid
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