Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsHow Long Effects LastMeasuring BACWhat Affects Sobriety?Alcohol in Your SystemCan You Sober Up Faster?When You Stop DrinkingLong-Term Sobriety
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
How Long Effects Last
Measuring BAC
What Affects Sobriety?
Alcohol in Your System
Can You Sober Up Faster?
When You Stop Drinking
Long-Term Sobriety
Enjoying drinks with friends can be a fun way to socialize and unwind, but it’s important to be aware of how long it takes to sober up after a night of drinking. Typically, it takes two hours for your body to metabolize one standard drink. However, the effects of alcohol can last long after your last drink, though the time it takes to sober up after drinking is different for everyone.
This article discusses the factors that influence how long it takes to sober up, the impact alcohol has on your body, how long alcohol stays in your system, and what to expect after a night of drinking or when you quit drinking alcohol entirely.
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How Does Alcohol Affect the Body?
Alcohol(ethanol) is a central nervous system depressant that slows your body’s systems and affects your mental and physical functioning.You may feel relaxed or euphoric after your first drink or two, but alcohol’s impact on your body and mind extends well beyond these initial effects.
Whether you drink beer, wine, or liquor, alcohol quickly enters your bloodstream and reaches your brain within minutes of your first drink.As alcohol reaches your brain, the relaxed, euphoric feeling sets in, and you may have fewer inhibitions.
While these effects contribute to the sociability associated with drinking, alcohol also slows down communication pathways in your brain. You may feel more sociable and less inhibited but find it harder to think coherently, speak articulately, and make sound decisions. Alcohol also slows how your body communicates with your brain, which slows your reflexes and increases the risk of accidents and injuries.
As your blood alcohol concentration (BAC)—the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream—rises, alcoholaffectsmore than just your brain. It also affects the following organs and body systems:
Liver
Yourlivermetabolizes (breaks down) alcohol and converts it intoacetaldehyde, a toxin and carcinogen.Your body eventually breaks acetaldehyde into acetate, but it can damage the liver before this occurs. Every time you drink, acetaldehyde binds to fat cells and proteins in the liver, triggering an inflammatory response that damages and kills liver cells.Heavy or ongoing alcohol consumption increases the risk of liver diseases, such ascirrhosis(severe scarring of the liver).
Heart
Heavy alcohol consumption can raise your heart rate and blood pressure for up to 24 hours after drinking. Over time, alcohol can strain and weaken your heart, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and heart failure.
Digestive System
Your stomach and small intestine absorb alcohol before it moves into your bloodstream. Alcohol consumption increases the production of stomach acids, which can irritate the stomach lining and lead to nausea, vomiting, and heartburn.
Heavy drinkingalso irritates and inflames the intestines and affects the muscles that control digestion, which is why you might have diarrhea after a night of drinking.Over time, intestinal inflammation increases the risk of gastrointestinal disorders and impairs your body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food, leading to nutritional deficiencies.
Immune System
Alcohol suppresses the immune system’s ability to fight infection and keep you healthy. A night of drinking five to six drinks suppresses your immune system for up to 24 hours, making you more vulnerable to illnesses like bacterial or viral infections.
Does Alcohol Dehydrate You? (And What You Can Do About It)
Measuring Alcohol Consumption: Blood Alcohol Concentration
BAC is the amount of alcohol in your blood, measured in milligrams of alcohol per deciliter of blood. For example, a BAC of 0.10 (100 mg/dL) means that 0.1% of your bloodstream is comprised of alcohol.Blood tests and breath alcohol analyzer devices, such as the Breathalyzer, can measure your BAC, which directly correlates to your level of intoxication.
Here’s a breakdown of how different BAC levels can affect you:
Higher BACs can lead to blackouts and loss of consciousness. A BAC of 0.40 or higher causes respiratory failure and can lead to death.
Factors That Affect How Long It Takes to Sober Up
How long it takes to sober up after drinking depends on your BAC. The higher your BAC, the longer it will take to sober up.
The amount of time it takes to sober up primarily depends on how much alcohol you’ve consumed. The volume of alcohol consumed and other factors can influence how quickly your BAC rises and how long it takes for alcohol to leave your body, including:
A Note on Gender and Sex TerminologyVerywell Health acknowledges that sex and gender are related concepts, but they are not the same. To reflect our sources accurately, this article uses terms like “female,” “male,” “woman,” and “man” as the sources use them.
A Note on Gender and Sex Terminology
Verywell Health acknowledges that sex and gender are related concepts, but they are not the same. To reflect our sources accurately, this article uses terms like “female,” “male,” “woman,” and “man” as the sources use them.
How Long Does Alcohol Stay in Your System?
The liver eliminates alcohol at a rate of 10 to 30 mg/dL per hour. So, if your BAC is 0.04, it will take between an hour and 20 minutes and four hours to sober up. For a BAC of 0.08, it will take between two hours and 40 minutes and eight hours to sober up.
Your BAC reaches 0 once there is no remaining alcohol in your bloodstream, but traces of alcohol can stay in your urine, saliva, breath, and hair for varying lengths of time.
Is There a Faster Way to Sober Up From Alcohol?
You may have heard about quick-fix methods that help you sober up faster than average. Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up the process of eliminating alcohol from your body. The only way to sober up is to allow your liver time to metabolize the alcohol you’ve consumed.
While coffee or cold showers might make you feel more alert for a short time, they do not impact your BAC level. Eating food before drinking can slow down the absorption of alcohol and buy your body some extra time to process alcohol, but eating after drinking won’t speed up its elimination once it is in your system.
What Happens When Alcohol Consumption Stops?
Once you stop drinking, your body continues to metabolize alcohol. You may feeldrowsyand fall asleep faster than usual, but alcohol can disrupt your sleep throughout the night, and you may have frequent awakenings, even if you don’t remember them.
You might wake up in the morning feeling tired and not well-rested, with gaps in your memory from the previous night (blackouts).The rebound effects of alcohol can also lead to anxiety and mood changes the following day, a side effect termed “hangxiety.”
Hangover Signs and Symptoms
Many people experience a hangover, a set of unpleasant symptoms, after consuming a significant amount of alcohol. These symptoms typically appear several hours after your last drink and can last up to 24 hours. Common hangover symptoms include:
Sobering Up From Alcohol When You’re Addicted
Alcohol is a powerful drug that activates your brain’s reward system, stimulating pleasant feelings and blunting emotional pain and stress. Like any drug, alcohol use can lead to addiction oralcohol use disorder(AUD). Signs of alcohol addiction include:
Over time, alcohol addiction causes a shift in the brain’s motivation to drink. Rather than feeling motivated to drink for the positive feelings alcohol can induce, motivation shifts to a desire to drink to reduce the emotional and physical discomfort alcohol withdrawal brings.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you suspect you have alcohol addiction and want to getsober. When you’re addicted to alcohol, sobriety involves more than just waiting for alcohol to leave your system. It can be a challenging journey that causes withdrawal symptoms and requires emotional and sometimes medical support.
Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
When you’ve been drinking too much for an extended period, you may experience withdrawal symptoms when you quit.Alcohol withdrawal symptomstypically begin within eight hours after your last drink and peak within 24 to 72 hours but can continue for weeks.
Common alcohol withdrawal symptoms include:
Severe alcohol withdrawal (delirium tremens) can cause:
If you have AUD or think you are addicted to alcohol, talk to a healthcare provider. Medical support can help you safely navigate withdrawal and begin your journey to recovery andlong-term sobriety.
Summary
Sobering up after drinking alcohol takes time. The average liver in a healthy adult metabolizes one drink in approximately two hours. How much you have to drink determines how much time it takes to get sober, while factors like your sex, body weight, and whether you had something to eat before drinking play a role in how quickly your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) rises.
If you choose to drink, do so mindfully—limit how many drinks you have, avoid getting drunk, and talk to a healthcare provider if you suspect you have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
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Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol[health topic].National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Alcohol’s effects on the body.AlcoholChangeUK.Alcohol and your mood: the highs and lows of drinking.Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.What are the effects of alcohol?National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Alcohol metabolism.Pohl K, Moodley P, Dhanda AD.Alcohol’s impact on the gut and liver.Nutrients.2021;13(9):3170. doi:10.3390/nu1309317American Liver Foundation.Cirrhosis (severe scarring).Tasnim S, Tang C, Musini VM, et al.Effect of alcohol on blood pressure.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;7(7):CD012787. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012787.pub2Drinkaware.Is alcohol harming your stomach?Grad S, Abenavoli L, Dumitrascu DL.The effect of alcohol on gastrointestinal motility.Rev Recent Clin Trials. 2016;11(3):191-195. doi:10.2174/1574887111666160815103251Yuan S, Chen J, Ruan X, et al.Smoking, alcohol consumption, and 24 gastrointestinal diseases: Mendelian randomization analysis.Elife. 2023;12:e84051. doi:10.7554/eLife.84051Alcohol and Drug Foundation.Understanding alcohol and our immune system.Medscape.Ethanol level.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Blood alcohol level.National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.The ABCs of BACs.California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.Alcohol facts.Dilley JE, Nicholson ER, Fischer SM, et al.Alcohol drinking and blood alcohol concentration revisited.Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2018;42(2):260-269. doi:10.1111/acer.13549Hyun J, Han J, Lee C, et al.Pathophysiological aspects of alcohol metabolism in the liver.Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(11):5717. doi:10.3390/ijms22115717McDonell MG, Skalisky J, Leickly E, et al.Using ethyl glucuronide in urine to detect light and heavy drinking in alcohol dependent outpatients.Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015;157:184-187. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.10.004Hadland SE, Levy S.Objective testing: urine and other drug tests.Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am.2016;25(3):549-65. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2016.02.005Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Clinical drug testing in primary care.Triolo V, Spanò M, Buscemi R, et al.EtG quantification in hair and different reference cut-offs in relation to various pathologies: a scoping review.Toxics. 2022;10(11):682. doi:10.3390/toxics10110682Training for Intervention Procedures.Alcohol half-life: how long does it take to sober up?Southern Illinois University Student Health Services.Sobering up.Helaakoski V, Kaprio J, Hublin C, Ollila HM, Latvala A.Alcohol use and poor sleep quality: a longitudinal twin study across 36 years.Sleep Adv. 2022;3(1):zpac023. doi:10.1093/sleepadvances/zpac023National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Interrupted memories: alcohol-induced blackouts.Alcohol and Drug Foundation.What is hangxiety?National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Hangovers.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol use disorder.National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Neuroscience: the brain in addiction and recovery.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol withdrawal.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol[health topic].National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Alcohol’s effects on the body.AlcoholChangeUK.Alcohol and your mood: the highs and lows of drinking.Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.What are the effects of alcohol?National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Alcohol metabolism.Pohl K, Moodley P, Dhanda AD.Alcohol’s impact on the gut and liver.Nutrients.2021;13(9):3170. doi:10.3390/nu1309317American Liver Foundation.Cirrhosis (severe scarring).Tasnim S, Tang C, Musini VM, et al.Effect of alcohol on blood pressure.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;7(7):CD012787. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012787.pub2Drinkaware.Is alcohol harming your stomach?Grad S, Abenavoli L, Dumitrascu DL.The effect of alcohol on gastrointestinal motility.Rev Recent Clin Trials. 2016;11(3):191-195. doi:10.2174/1574887111666160815103251Yuan S, Chen J, Ruan X, et al.Smoking, alcohol consumption, and 24 gastrointestinal diseases: Mendelian randomization analysis.Elife. 2023;12:e84051. doi:10.7554/eLife.84051Alcohol and Drug Foundation.Understanding alcohol and our immune system.Medscape.Ethanol level.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Blood alcohol level.National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.The ABCs of BACs.California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.Alcohol facts.Dilley JE, Nicholson ER, Fischer SM, et al.Alcohol drinking and blood alcohol concentration revisited.Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2018;42(2):260-269. doi:10.1111/acer.13549Hyun J, Han J, Lee C, et al.Pathophysiological aspects of alcohol metabolism in the liver.Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(11):5717. doi:10.3390/ijms22115717McDonell MG, Skalisky J, Leickly E, et al.Using ethyl glucuronide in urine to detect light and heavy drinking in alcohol dependent outpatients.Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015;157:184-187. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.10.004Hadland SE, Levy S.Objective testing: urine and other drug tests.Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am.2016;25(3):549-65. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2016.02.005Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Clinical drug testing in primary care.Triolo V, Spanò M, Buscemi R, et al.EtG quantification in hair and different reference cut-offs in relation to various pathologies: a scoping review.Toxics. 2022;10(11):682. doi:10.3390/toxics10110682Training for Intervention Procedures.Alcohol half-life: how long does it take to sober up?Southern Illinois University Student Health Services.Sobering up.Helaakoski V, Kaprio J, Hublin C, Ollila HM, Latvala A.Alcohol use and poor sleep quality: a longitudinal twin study across 36 years.Sleep Adv. 2022;3(1):zpac023. doi:10.1093/sleepadvances/zpac023National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Interrupted memories: alcohol-induced blackouts.Alcohol and Drug Foundation.What is hangxiety?National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Hangovers.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol use disorder.National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Neuroscience: the brain in addiction and recovery.National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol withdrawal.
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National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Alcohol’s effects on the body.
AlcoholChangeUK.Alcohol and your mood: the highs and lows of drinking.
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.What are the effects of alcohol?
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Alcohol metabolism.
Pohl K, Moodley P, Dhanda AD.Alcohol’s impact on the gut and liver.Nutrients.2021;13(9):3170. doi:10.3390/nu1309317
American Liver Foundation.Cirrhosis (severe scarring).
Tasnim S, Tang C, Musini VM, et al.Effect of alcohol on blood pressure.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;7(7):CD012787. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD012787.pub2
Drinkaware.Is alcohol harming your stomach?
Grad S, Abenavoli L, Dumitrascu DL.The effect of alcohol on gastrointestinal motility.Rev Recent Clin Trials. 2016;11(3):191-195. doi:10.2174/1574887111666160815103251
Yuan S, Chen J, Ruan X, et al.Smoking, alcohol consumption, and 24 gastrointestinal diseases: Mendelian randomization analysis.Elife. 2023;12:e84051. doi:10.7554/eLife.84051
Alcohol and Drug Foundation.Understanding alcohol and our immune system.
Medscape.Ethanol level.
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Blood alcohol level.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.The ABCs of BACs.
California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.Alcohol facts.
Dilley JE, Nicholson ER, Fischer SM, et al.Alcohol drinking and blood alcohol concentration revisited.Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2018;42(2):260-269. doi:10.1111/acer.13549
Hyun J, Han J, Lee C, et al.Pathophysiological aspects of alcohol metabolism in the liver.Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(11):5717. doi:10.3390/ijms22115717
McDonell MG, Skalisky J, Leickly E, et al.Using ethyl glucuronide in urine to detect light and heavy drinking in alcohol dependent outpatients.Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015;157:184-187. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.10.004
Hadland SE, Levy S.Objective testing: urine and other drug tests.Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am.2016;25(3):549-65. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2016.02.005
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Clinical drug testing in primary care.
Triolo V, Spanò M, Buscemi R, et al.EtG quantification in hair and different reference cut-offs in relation to various pathologies: a scoping review.Toxics. 2022;10(11):682. doi:10.3390/toxics10110682
Training for Intervention Procedures.Alcohol half-life: how long does it take to sober up?
Southern Illinois University Student Health Services.Sobering up.
Helaakoski V, Kaprio J, Hublin C, Ollila HM, Latvala A.Alcohol use and poor sleep quality: a longitudinal twin study across 36 years.Sleep Adv. 2022;3(1):zpac023. doi:10.1093/sleepadvances/zpac023
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Interrupted memories: alcohol-induced blackouts.
Alcohol and Drug Foundation.What is hangxiety?
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Hangovers.
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol use disorder.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.Neuroscience: the brain in addiction and recovery.
National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus.Alcohol withdrawal.
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