[Closed] How long for booze to leave the body?

Only truly safe to drive when you haven't had any the night before

Play it safe and just don't drive the following day.

Only truly safe to drive when you haven't had any the night before

This

Drink, or drive. Don't do both.

If I'm out on a night out, I won't be driving the next day. Even if I only have 5 pints.

Varies from person to person, but 1.5 hours per unit seems like a safeish approach.

Alcohol is a toxin, so your liver will be getting rid of it from the moment it hits your bloodstream. But the rate of absorption will be altered by other factors, eg whether you're eating at the same time. So there's no hard and fast rule.

So let's say you start at 7pm and have five pints - by your reckoning even if you start to process that immediately, you'll still have alcohol in your system the following morning, probably enough to be over the limit for most of it.

Are we factoring in a Tactical Chunder into these equations?

I've read it's a unit per hour. So if you make each pint last an hour and a half, you won't get any drunker.

But everyone's different, that's probably wrong^ and often it's hard to keep track of things.

We have regular random tests at work.

As a guideline we're told an hour per unit starting from when you finish your last drink.

But as above, its best to just not drink or not drive the following day.

IANAD

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But everyone's different, that's probably wrong^

Probably 🙂

A pint of normal lager is 2 units approx, strong lagers more like 3.

It varies massively person to person. Tested on a reasonable breathalyser (not a cheap nasty one). Morning after a wedding both friend and myself tested well over the limit. By lunch time I was registering consistently clean, he was still over. Both 30 year old males similar body type similar amount had to drink the night before.

As a guideline we're told an hour per unit starting from when you finish your last drink.

But as above, its best to just not drink or not drive the following day.

5 pints and i wouldn't be getting up the next day, let alone driving!!

Simple answer do one or the other BUT NOT BOTH that way you don't risk the lives of other people loosing your licence, job and so on!

Can you tell I don't drink and can't stand drunkedness lol

Don't drink then if you have a busy weekend. Simple really.

IIRC a 4% beer is two units per 500ml, 5% beer is 2.5 units per 500ml, 6% beer is three units per 500ml, etc. A pint contains 568ml

If I'm out on a night out, I won't be driving the next day. Even if I only have 5 pints.

Only truly safe to drive when you haven't had any the night before

So for instance, if I have 5 pints of reasonable strength ale over a 4 hour period that's 12 units x 1.5 = 18 hours.

Seriously?

You drink 5 pints and don't drive at all the next day?

Are you drinking extra strong Barley Wine or something?

I hope you are as careful when you are suffering from a cold or something that might reduce your superhero reflexes as much as 5 pints drank the night before. Also, suggest you turn the radio off and instruct any passengers not to speak.

You drink 5 pints and don't drive at all the next day?

Very sensible of him.

I hope you are as careful when you are suffering from a cold or something that might reduce your superhero reflexes as much as 5 pints drank the night before. Also, suggest you turn the radio off and instruct any passengers not to speak.

🙄

if i didnt drive the day after 5 pints my car would never leave the pub carpark.

as careful when you are suffering from a cold

This is a valid point actually if you are really ill, i remember once trying to drive (admittedly i had pneumonia not a cold), got about 2 miles, realized I didn't have a clue what was going on, was an absolute liability, and turned around and went home.

I hope you are as careful when you are suffering from a cold or something that might reduce your superhero reflexes as much as 5 pints drank the night before. Also, suggest you turn the radio off and instruct any passengers not to speak.

5pints, anything from 10-15 units, plus some idiot will have suggested a whiskey to finish off the evening, so 15 unless you're drinking from the bland end of the bar.

So 15-22.5 hours (1 or 1.5x) until you're sober, kicking out time is usually midnight, so that's 10:30 on Sunday EVENING before you might be sober.

My usual rule of thumb is if I think I'm OK to drive and have had more than a couple of drinks in the last 12 hours, I'm probably not OK (and leave the maths for the following morning).

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(I know it's not real)

It's surprising how much stays in your system though, especially with the recently lowered limit - at the Wickerman festival the police were doing free breath testing on the Sunday morning as folk were leaving - my missus went down despite only having one drink the previous afternoon and was unsurprisingly fine, but the guy in front of her was still 4 times the limit & obviously just about to head home...

Interesting that people would still choose not to drive even when there is no alcohol in their system.

Presumably you don't get in the car unless you've had 8 hours unbroken sleep too? Or if a black cat crossed your path the day before?

Obviously, if you have alcohol in your system or as a result of drinking you got a poor sleep the night before then that's an entirely different proposition.

I should have dried out by the time I start again tonight...

Very sensible of him.

Good point. I'm just off to finish my concrete bunker to put my ammo box light charging safety containment system in.

So 15-22.5 hours (1 or 1.5x) until you're sober, kicking out time is usually midnight, so that's 10:30 on Sunday EVENING before you might be sober.

What is it with this place?

Why do you not start breaking the alcohol down when you first start drinking? Does your liver wait until last orders have been called.

22.5 hours before you are fit to drive after 5 pints? Seriously?

I used to work at a place where we had a calibrated breathalyzer and access to lots of alcohol. We played with it. 5 pints 8 hours earlier would of blown zero.

How much do you lot drink and how many hours do you sleep before getting up the next morning?

Historically a lot in the industry however its turned around now and our limit is 29mg/100ml, the drink drive limit is 80mg/100ml.

Failing a test is a ban from working in the industry for minimum of 5 years.

Why do you not start breaking the alcohol down when you first start drinking? Does your liver wait until last orders have been called.

Well, because your body is already dealing with many toxins adding more slows the process of all that then to keep adding more makes it harder for the body to break them all down.

I used to work at a place where we had a calibrated breathalyzer and access to lots of alcohol. We played with it. 5 pints 8 hours earlier would of blown zero.

But you didn't have blood tests which is far more accurate.

Good point. I'm just off to finish my concrete bunker to put my ammo box light charging safety containment system in.

I'm not even sure why you're comparing charging lights to drink driving, now I see where there's so many idiots who think they are safe.

And these are the same idiots we have to share the roads with.

Drink driving convictions are down 12% since the introduction of the lower limit in Scotland. Looks like the message is getting home.

I got the units from the below website:

[url= https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/understand-your-drinking/unit-calculator ]Unit Calculator[/url]

As I drink real ale, I went for 5 pints at 4.5% to be on the safe side which came out at 13 units (2.6 units per pint).

Found this:

[url= http://portal.oxfordshire.gov.uk/content/publicnet/other_sites/365/OFRS-PDFs/Morning_After_LeafletP2.pdf ]PDF[/url]

Why do you not start breaking the alcohol down when you first start drinking? Does your liver wait until last orders have been called.

That's exactly what I was asking tbf.

Well, because your body is already dealing with many toxins adding more slows the process of all that then to keep adding more makes it harder for the body to break them all down.

Wrong.

But you didn't have blood tests which is far more accurate.

Yes they are. However, if you are blowing zero then the blood alcohol level is so low that it has no significant effect on your ability to drive or operate machinery safely.

I'm not even sure why you're comparing charging lights to drink driving, now I see where there's so many idiots who think they are safe.

Safe to do what? Drive or charge lights?

There are lots of threats in live, if you are too risk adverse you wouldn't do anything.

The threat posed by somebody causing an accident due to adverse driving capacity caused a trace of alcohol in their system is insignificant.

Wrong.

Really? Go on then.

Safe to do what? Drive or charge lights?

Says it all.

As I said....

As I said....

/nods.

According to a number of sources, the [b]minimum[/b] amount of time to leave after finishing your last drink is as follows:

4 x pints @ 4% is 10 hours + 1 hour for absorption, so 11 hours.

3 x 250ml glasses of 13% wine is 10.5 hours + 1 hour for absorption, so 11.5 hours.

3 x 70ml (a double) measure of a 40% spirit is 9 hours + 1 hour for absorption, so 10 hours.

I think the important thing to remember here is the word 'minimum'.

I thought the timer starts when you stopped drinking just to make the maths easier and to play it safer.

As far as I was aware there is a delay while the alcohol goes from your stomach into your body stream. But once it's in the blood stream your body does start breaking the alcohol down straight away.

Also it gets complicated when you spread the drinking over time as your body is processing the first pint when you start drinking a second pint. So for a while there is overlap where you have remains of first pint plus the second pint. Then after a while more, you only have remains of second pint left in your blood stream.

It all gets even more complicated as there are many other factors to consider too. So as a rule of thumb start the sober timer when you finish your last drink.

I use the Railway Workers rule of thumb.

12 hours after your last drink, you should be OK.

This is an interesting link looking it as Blood Alcohol Content relative to weight etc.
[url= http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/alcohol,_tobacco,_&_other_drugs/alcohol/alcohol_&_your_body.php ]Browns Uni - BAC [/url]

Some of the weights and measures used are in US Imperial but the key points are the same which is predominantly that BAC is a function of weight.

So on the basis that a 4% pint is a "2.5 hr drink", if I quaff a half with my lunch, I should wait 1.25 hrs before driving home?

So on the basis that a 4% pint is a "2.5 hr drink", if I quaff a half with my lunch, I should wait 1.25 hrs before driving home?

Depends whether you want to be under the limit or you want your body to be alcohol free.

So on the basis that a 4% pint is a "2.5 hr drink", if I quaff a half with my lunch, I should wait 1.25 hrs before driving home?

Longer I would have thought as it's going to take 1 hour before the booze has even been absorbed.

Instead of doing a Will Hunting impression on/ following a night out, just don't drive the next day. Simples.

taxi's were invented to solve this particular conundrum.

Put it this way, you know if you are sober or not, or even close to being dodgy. If in doubt don't drive. It's not rocket science.

There are numerous ways to travel without the use of a car! Try them out once in a while! 😆

Wrong.

Really? Go on then

P450 metabolises a bit of ethanol and just might be easier to affect but even in a regular pisshead it's generally a minor contributor

You can avoid any confusion by just staying pissed, surely?

Sobriety is massively overrated anyway

Depends whether you want to be under the limit or you want your body to be alcohol free.

Why do you need to be 100% alcohol free to drive?

A low level of alcohol in the blood does not effect your reactions, co-ordination, vision or decision making to any significant degree.

Alcohol dehydrogenase is fairly specific and its rate for dealing with ethanol in a given individual isn't affected by many things

Well apart from sex, race, age, liver disease, certain medication and those who drink regular. Oh and food.

[i]Well apart from [b]sex, race, age, [/b]liver disease, certain medication and [b]those who drink regular[/b]. Oh and food. [/i]

Err, [b]"in a given individual"[/b] takes care of sex, race, age and regularity of drinking. liver disease will also be a constant there, not to mention an irrelevance in the "normal person" situation.

ANd, yes, we're all clearly talking about the few hours after a normally healthy person starting a session and the situation you presented was that this is when some mysterious "other toxins" are being removed, preventing ethanol metabolism from starting immediately

What other toxins, foods or even medications did you mean that affect alcohol dehydrogenase, or even overall alcohol removal to a significant extent?

ANd, yes, we're all clearly talking about the few hours after a normally healthy person starting a session

Are we?

I used toxins referring to medication and/or other intakes into your system. IIRC even a simple Aspirin has an effect on alcohol metabolisation.

Are we?

"A simple aspirin" (I think it's a gram or so - an "overdose" for any product you can buy), has an effect on bioavailabilty in some patients but still wouldn't affect the rate at which the liver removes ethanol from the body in these people - it's an effect on stomach/gut enzymes and first-pass effect

An old mate of mine got banned after being breathalysed at around 1 in the afternoon. I think he'd finished drinking around midnight. He said he felt fine. Make of that what you will.

Oh now I see.

We seem to be on two different points here, yes once it reaches the liver the process will start but the time it takes to process may vary from person to person.

agreed 😀

So on the basis that a 4% pint is a "2.5 hr drink", if I quaff a half with my lunch, I should wait 1.25 hrs before driving home?

Longer I would have thought as it's going to take 1 hour before the booze has even been absorbed.

An old mate of mine got banned after being breathalysed at around 1 in the afternoon. I think he'd finished drinking around midnight. He said he felt fine. Make of that what you will.

He's lying about when he finished drinking.

It's quite common for an alcoholic to be a pretty determined liar.

OK I'll neck two or three really quick and it's only 15 minutes home in the car.

Off you pop...

gobuchul - Member
Depends whether you want to be under the limit or you want your body to be alcohol free.
Why do you need to be 100% alcohol free to drive?

A low level of alcohol in the blood does not effect your reactions, co-ordination, vision or decision making to any significant degree.

Who are you, a spokesperson for Scottish and Newcastle in the 70's?

One of the reasons why the limit's been dropped to <1pint in most of Europe is precisely because it's been shown that a small amount is dangerous!

😆 He wasn't an alcoholic, it was after a work's night out. Classic STW judgement 😆