How Long Does Alcohol Stay In Your System?
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Article at a Glance:
- A healthy liver can process about one drink per hour.
- Each person’s body processes alcohol at a different rate.
- Blood alcohol concentration charts show what a healthy range of alcohol intake is for your weight and gender.
- Alcohol can be tested in urine, blood, breath, sweat, saliva and hair follicles.
- Online self-assessment tests can help you determine if you have an alcohol problem.
How long does alcohol stay in your system? A normal, healthy liver can process roughly one drink per hour, so typically, one drink will stay in your system for one hour. That means that if you finish a drink at 6:00, you will generally be in the clear by 7:00. However, if you have a second one at 6:30, the time is added. You’ll have 30 minutes left from the first drink, plus the additional hour from the second one, meaning you’ll be intoxicated until 8:00.
- How long does alcohol stay in your urine? About 80 hours.
- How long does alcohol stay in your blood? The average liver can process one drink per hour.
- How long does alcohol stay in your hair follicles? Approximately three months.
- How long does alcohol stay in your breast milk? About 2 to 3 hours per drink.
What Is One Drink?
Every type of drink (beer, wine, liquor, etc.) has a different amount of alcohol in it. At a bar, drinks are generally standardized to easily keep track of how much alcohol you’ve had. A standard “drink” is 0.6 ounces of alcohol.
For example, one beer is 12 fluid ounces and it contains 5% alcohol. Wine is a much more concentrated drink at 12%. Just 5 fluid ounces of wine is considered one drink. One shot of rum, vodka or gin at 40% alcohol (80 proof) is considered one drink. All three have the same amount of alcohol.
If you have one glass of wine (5 fluid ounces), your liver will be able to metabolize it in about one hour. If you have two shots of vodka one after the other, it will take two hours to get sober again.
And remember—alcohol is alcohol. A breathalyzer doesn’t distinguish between a shot or “just a beer.” It affects your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) the same way.
Related Topic: Is Alcohol a Drug
When Is It Safe to Drive After Drinking Alcohol?
Monitoring your alcohol intake can be a tricky thing, and there’s plenty of hearsay about how to sober up quickly and how clear your head should be before leaving the bar. It’s common sense to avoid the driver’s seat when the world is swimming. But what about when you’re just a little buzzed? How long does alcohol stay in your system?
The reality is that alcohol sticks around much longer than many people expect, and just a little bit left in your bloodstream is enough to trigger a positive on an alcohol test. So before you have a drink, understand how long alcohol stays in your system. It might save your life.
How Long Does It Take to Sober Up?
Symptoms of intoxication appear differently from person to person and leave the body at different rates. Factors like body type, gender, eating and drinking water can all affect how long it takes to feel sober. Excessive drinking habits can also increase the amount of time it may take.
The process of breaking down alcohol begins in the stomach. A little bit is broken down there, but the rest reaches the small intestine and is absorbed into the bloodstream. The liver begins to metabolize what it can, and the rest is distributed throughout the body. Small amounts of alcohol are also expelled through the urine, sweat and breath.
It’s important to remember that feeling better after a hangover does not mean the alcohol is out of your system. The best way to measure how intoxicated you are is through the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) scale.
Related Topic: How to cleanse your liver from alcohol
Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) and Liver Metabolism Rate
Drinking isn’t a guessing game—there are science-backed methods to understand how intoxicated you are based on your body type.
The blood alcohol concentration (BAC) scale shows how much of your bloodstream is pure alcohol. For example, if you have a BAC of .10, it means that .1% of your bloodstream is alcohol. The scale looks like this:
- At .04, most people begin to feel relaxed.
- .08 is the legal intoxication level in most states. However, driving can be impaired by BACs as low as .02.
- At .12, most people feel the need to vomit.
- At .30, many people lose consciousness.
- By .40, most people lose consciousness.
- A BAC of .45 is usually fatal.
BAC charts make it easy to see what a healthy range is for you. The charts are separated by male and female, since the male body tends to have more water and therefore a higher alcohol tolerance. Women also have significantly less of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol in their stomach than men do.
Everybody is different in how many drinks they need to reach a given BAC. For a man who weighs 180 pounds, three drinks will put him at .06. An hour later, he’ll have a BAC of .04. Based on this chart, a woman who weighs 140 pounds and has two drinks in an hour will have a BAC of .07.
Lastly, if you eat before drinking, you’ll be able to keep your BAC lower since it prevents the alcohol from moving to the small intestine too quickly. But the only way to keep alcohol from reaching the bladder is to keep alcohol from entering your bloodstream in the first place.
What Happens During Ethanol Urine & EtG Alcohol Tests?
Alcohol testing is performed for a variety of reasons. Alcohol can be detected in urine, blood, saliva, sweat, breath and even your hair follicles. You may be asked to take an alcohol test in a police investigation or as part of an alcohol treatment program.
There are different types of tests for different parts of your body, and each one has multiple uses. For example, if you’re being tested in a medical setting for intoxication, doctors are more likely to take a blood sample. In a legal setting, such as after an accident or a suspected DUI, you’re likely to be given a breath test.
Regardless of what part of the body the test is for, most alcohol tests are looking for one of two chemicals: ethanol or ethyl glucuronide (EtG).
Related: Alcohol Withdrawal
While 92-98% of alcohol is metabolized in the liver, the remaining 2-8% leaves the body through urine, sweat and breath. Ethanol is beverage alcohol that can be detected in urine up to one or two hours after the alcohol has left the body.
When it comes to ethanol urine tests, there’s going to be a small lag as the body filters the alcohol from the blood into the bladder. Urine alcohol levels generally peak 45 to 60 minutes after alcohol ingestion. But once it’s there, it can be detectable for up to 12 hours.
How Ethanol Tests Are Used
Ethanol urine tests are not the most accurate, partly because the alcohol concentration in urine tends to lag behind the actual concentration of alcohol in the blood. Also, ethanol is created naturally in the body by bacteria. If you have diabetes, a yeast infection or if you’re producing ketones like on the keto diet, your body can naturally create enough ethanol to trigger a false positive. This is especially true if the urine sample is left out at room temperature, where the microorganisms can continue to ferment glucose and create more alcohol.
To combat inaccurate readings, you might be asked to give a second urine sample a half hour after the first one. This serves as a comparison to give a better picture of how long the alcohol has been in the bladder.
EtG is shorthand for ethyl glucuronide, a substance that’s created when the liver metabolizes alcohol. It’s generally used for situations where the timing of the drink doesn’t matter, such as when the individual is required to be completely abstinent. This is because EtG hangs around in the body far longer than ethanol does.
The EtG test has been called the “80 hour test,” but in reality, it can register a positive up to five days later, depending on how much alcohol the person drank. There’s no hard and fast rule, but here’s a snapshot of real-world test results:
One beer was detectable 16 hours later.
Six shots of vodka taken in 3 hours was detectable 54 hours later.
How EtG Tests Are Used
EtG tests are considered the gold standard of alcohol tests because they are much more accurate than other tests. However, they are not helpful for situations where the timing of the alcohol is important. For example, in a suspected DUI, an EtG test may register a positive even though the person drank alcohol the day before and isn’t actually intoxicated anymore.
Self-Assessment: Are You an Alcoholic?
There’s a fine line between excessive alcohol consumption and alcoholism and it’s not always easy to determine which side you’re on. If you’re concerned that your drinking or that of a loved one has become an addiction, consider the following online assessments. These tests can help you determine if you’re an alcoholic by evaluating your drinking habits. For the most accurate assessment, please be completely honest with your responses. The tests are 100% confidential and free:National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “Alcohol Alert: Alcohol Metabolism.” National Institutes of Health, October 2000. Accessed March 11, 2020.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Alcohol | Breastfeeding.” U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, December 28, 2019. Accessed March 11, 2020.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Impaired Driving: Get the Facts.” U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, March 22, 2019. Accessed March 11, 2020.
American Association for Clinical Chemistry. “Ethanol.” Lab Tests Online, March 6, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2020.
Hadland, Scott E and Levy, Sharon. “Objective Testing – Urine And Other Drug Tests.” Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, March 30, 2016. Accessed March 11, 2020.
James, Alan W. “Alcohol, its absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion in the body and pharmacokinetic calculations.” WIREs Forensic Science, May 20, 2019. Accessed March 11, 2020.
Helander A, Böttcher M, et. al. “Detection times for urinary ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulfate in heavy drinkers during alcohol detoxification.” Alcohol Alcohol, October 29, 2008. Accessed March 11, 2020.
Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission. “Blood Alcohol Percentage Charts.” December 23, 2020. Accessed March 11, 2020.
