Myths About Speeding Up Sobriety
Drink coffee — wrong! – coffee contains caffeine (which is a stimulant) and mixing it with alcohol (which is a depressant) can have harmful side effects.
Drink water — wrong! – although this may help rehydrate the body, drinking water has no effect on getting rid of the alcohol.
Be sick / vomit — wrong! – this will only get rid of the alcohol in the stomach and, as alcohol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, this won’t help.
Stop drinking and wait — RIGHT! – there is nothing you can do but wait for your liver to process the alcohol out of your body.
It takes around 20 minutes from when you first start drinking for the liver to start to process the alcohol out of the body. The liver then processes this alcohol at a steady rate of around 8 grams per hour, i.e., ½ glass of wine per hour.