A night out drinking with friends can quickly take a turn for the worse if you decide to get behind the wheel while you’re intoxicated. Unfortunately, there are many common misconceptions about tricks you can employ to sober up quickly. These can lead to costly mistakes on the road. In today’s post, we explore four such myths:
Drinking coffee
The caffeine contained in coffee is a stimulant, which counters the sedative effect of alcohol. Drinking coffee after drinking alcohol can make you feel more alert, which can trick your brain into thinking you’re sober. However, this is not really the case. Coffee does nothing to reduce your body’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC).
Drinking water
Drinking water regularly throughout a night of drinking provides various benefits to your body. It helps to rehydrate you when alcohol is depleting your body of water. It can also help you to avoid a nasty hangover the next morning. However, many people have a notion that drinking water can work to “water down” the concentration of alcohol in your system, and this is untrue.
Eating carbs
Many people turn to bread, French fries or pizza to help sober them up. The idea is that such foods can serve to absorb the alcohol out of your system. There can be some benefit to eating something before you start drinking. Drinking on an empty stomach means your stomach will absorb the alcohol more quickly, which can lead to sudden, marked impairment. Having something in your stomach slows down that absorption. However, eating food before, during or after drinking will not prevent intoxication.
Spreading out the drinking
Some people follow the “one drink per hour” rule, believing that staggering the alcohol intake in this way will allow adequate time for metabolization. This method is also prone to error. For one thing, the rate at which individuals metabolize alcohol varies by person. Secondly, the one drink per hour rule is too fast for many. It takes two hours to metabolize a 12-ounce bottle of beer for the average, 160-pound man.
While the above strategies can help you to have a more pleasant night out – and morning after – it’s important to realize they will not reduce your BAC. Planning a sober ride home can help you to avoid impaired driving charges.
