Can I speed up the time it takes to get rid of alcohol from my body?

Alcohol goes directly from the stomach into the blood stream. A drinker can control the amount of alcohol that he or she takes in. However, the drinker cannot control how fast the body gets rid of alcohol.

A campaign by the Road Safety Authority and www.drinkaware.ie (MEAS / Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society) states that traditional ‘stomach liners’ or ‘cures’ won’t speed up the process by which alcohol is eliminated from the body. A person gets rid of roughly one standard drink per hour. That’s half a pint, or one glass of wine, or one shot per hour.

So if someone has been drinking the night before, the only cure is time to be confident of being a safe driver the next day.

Drinking coffee or taking a cold shower cannot speed up the elimination process.

If you are a tired driver ...

International experts also say that alcohol is twice as potent when you are a tired driver. So people who think they are driving under the legal limit should be aware that even small amounts of alcohol consumed when we are tired combine to form a lethal cocktail (Horne, et al, 2003).

Recent research published in France showed that sleepiness combined with as little as 0.01 BAC triples the likelihood of death or serious injury between the hours of 00:00 and 05:00 (Philip, et al, 2001).

How do we know that alcohol affects driving?

The literature on the effects of alcohol on driving is very extensive and very consistent: alcohol in any amount impairs driving or driving related skills. Moskowitz & Robinson, 1988, reviewed 177 studies and Moskowitz & Fiorentino, 2000, reviewed 112 studies in reports by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in the USA.

The results of the reviews can be summarised by a quotation from the 1988 report which stated, “there is no lower threshold below which impairment does not exist for alcohol”. In other words, any amount of alcohol impairs driving. The combination of alcohol and driving is a deadly mix.

Where can I get more information on how alcohol affects the body?

To understand how alcohol affects the body visit www.drinkaware.ie. It has been developed by MEAS (Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society) and has practical tips on getting home safely.

“Think of the decisions we could be forcing on others as a result of our choice to drink and drive.”

Continue reading:  Attitudes towards Drink Driving