How to Sober Up Fast
Nothing sobers you up fast. Count about 2 hours per standard drink, learn the signs that mean calling 911, do not drive, and get through the wait with water, food, and rest.
You will end up knowing how long the alcohol will take to clear, what to do while you wait, and which signs mean calling 911. Nothing sobers you up fast. An average 70 kg (154 lb) person clears about one standard drink every 2 hours, and in the one experiment that timed it, a meal shortened the time to clear the alcohol by about 2 hours. Coffee, a cold shower, and walking it off do not reverse the effects of alcohol.
Two rules come before everything else. If someone cannot be woken, is breathing slowly or irregularly, is having a seizure, or has pale, bluish, or clammy skin, call 911 now. Step 8 has the full list of signs. And do not drive tonight, however sober you feel. Step 2 gives the reason.
Steps 1 to 6 are what to do tonight, in order. Step 7 deals with the remedies that do not work, and step 9 is for next time.
Water Bland food like toast, crackers, or bananas A safe place to rest A phone to call 911 if needed Someone sober to stay with you if you are heavily intoxicated A ride home that does not involve you driving
Work out how long the wait is
A review of alcohol metabolism says about 90% of the alcohol you drink is broken down in the body, most of it in the liver, and under 10% leaves through your breath, sweat, and urine. The enzyme that does most of that work is alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). It is already working at full capacity at low blood alcohol levels, which is why the rate barely responds to anything you do. The same review puts the average at about 7 grams of alcohol an hour for a person who weighs 70 kg (154 lb). A US standard drink holds 14 grams, so count about 2 hours for each standard drink. The one-drink-an-hour rule of thumb fits a 7-gram drink, which is half a US standard drink. A standard drink is 12 ounces of regular beer at 5% alcohol, 5 ounces of wine at 12%, or 1.5 ounces of spirits at 40%. Four standard drinks take about 8 hours to clear, counted from when you started drinking. In blood alcohol terms, the same average is a fall in blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of about 0.015 an hour. That is the figure a 2010 review of elimination studies in Forensic Science International gives for moderate drinkers. The average hides a lot of spread. The metabolism review puts the variation between healthy people at threefold to fourfold, and you have no way of measuring your own, so treat any timeline you work out as an estimate and add time to it. Nothing you take or do tonight turns those hours into minutes. A meal trims an hour or two (step 4), and time does the rest.
Stop drinking immediately
Nothing else you do tonight lengthens the wait the way another drink does. Every additional standard drink adds about 2 hours. In blood alcohol terms, from a BAC of 0.08 you need about 5.3 hours to reach zero at the average rate. From 0.15 it is 10 hours, and from 0.20 it is over 13. Do not drive tonight. NHTSA says it is illegal in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to drive with a BAC of 0.08 or higher, except in Utah, where the limit is 0.05. That limit is a legal line and not a safe one, and FAQ 6 below gives the figures. The same page says it is very difficult to assess your own BAC or impairment, because failing to recognize impairment is often a symptom of it. This is general information about US law, not legal advice. Switch your glass to water or a non-alcoholic drink. If you are in a social setting where people keep offering refills, hold a glass of something that looks like a drink. Soda water with lime works, and it saves you the conversation about why you stopped drinking. The earlier you stop, the sooner your blood alcohol starts to fall. Do not expect the decline to begin the moment you put the glass down. Whatever is still in your stomach and intestine carries on being absorbed, so your blood alcohol can keep climbing for a while after your last drink.
Drink water steadily
Water will not lower your BAC. It replaces the fluid that alcohol makes you lose. NIAAA's hangover fact sheet explains that alcohol suppresses vasopressin, the hormone that tells your kidneys to hold on to fluid, so you urinate more. It says the mild dehydration that results likely contributes to the thirst, fatigue, and headache of a hangover. Start sipping water as soon as you stop drinking. Take small, steady sips and do not chug. If you feel nauseous, take smaller sips more often, and do not force down a full glass at once.
Good to know: Plain water is enough. NIAAA's hangover fact sheet says research has not found that added electrolytes change how severe a hangover is. Drink a sports drink if you prefer the taste.
Eat something
Eat only if you are wide awake. Food is not for someone who is drowsy or drifting off, because alcohol dulls the gag reflex that prevents choking (step 8). Food does two useful things. If there is still unabsorbed alcohol sitting in your stomach, food slows the rate at which it enters your bloodstream. And a meal speeds up how fast your body disposes of alcohol. When ten men drank the same dose after breakfast rather than on an empty stomach, the rate alcohol disappeared from their blood rose by 36 to 50%, and it still rose when the meal came 5 hours after the drinking. That took about 2 hours off the job in that experiment. It is a real effect and it is not a way to sober up on demand. The study was small, you cannot measure your own rate, and an hour or two off a long wait does not make anyone fit to drive. Stick to bland, easy foods like toast, crackers, bananas, plain rice, or a simple sandwich. What the meal is made of matters little (step 9), so pick whatever you can keep down. If you feel nauseous, skip greasy or heavy food and eat a few bites at a time.
Rest or sleep
Before anyone sleeps, check them against the signs in step 8. Someone who cannot be woken, or who shows any other sign on that list, needs 911 and not a bed. Do not take a sleeping pill, an anti-anxiety medication, an opioid painkiller, or an antihistamine to help you sleep. NIAAA's overdose fact sheet (linked in step 8) warns that alcohol with opioids or sedatives raises the risk of an overdose, and that even over-the-counter antihistamines can be dangerous with alcohol. Sleep does not speed up alcohol metabolism. It keeps you from doing anything risky while you are impaired, and it lets the hours pass. Lie on your side, with a glass of water and a bucket or trash can within reach. Set an alarm if you need to be somewhere, and do not plan to drive there. After heavy drinking you can still be over the driving limit the next morning, and FAQ 4 below works through an example. If you cannot sleep because the room is spinning, that sensation is coming from your inner ear rather than your stomach. It is called positional alcohol nystagmus. A 1999 study in the Annals of Neurology gives the explanation, known as the buoyancy hypothesis. During intoxication the motion sensor in each balance canal of the inner ear becomes lighter than the fluid around it, so it starts responding to gravity, and your brain reads rotation that is not happening. The old advice of lying on your side with one foot flat on the floor is meant to give you a fixed physical reference. We could not find a study that has tested whether it helps, and it costs nothing to try.
Heads up: If someone has fallen asleep drunk, do not leave them alone. Wake them to make sure you can. If you cannot wake them, call 911. If they wake, turn them onto their side with an ear toward the floor so they cannot choke if they vomit, and keep checking on them, because their blood alcohol can still be climbing while they lie there.
Stay put and stay warm
Fresh air does not lower your BAC, and neither does walking it off (step 7). If the room is stuffy, open a window or sit by the door. Stay where you are. Your balance, coordination, and judgment are all impaired, even if you feel fine, and NIAAA's overdose fact sheet says an intoxicated person is at risk of getting injured from falling. If you do step outside, bring someone with you and stay close. Do not wander off alone, especially at night or in unfamiliar areas. Keep warm. The CDC lists people who drink alcohol in excess among those at high risk of hypothermia. Do not sit outside in the cold to clear your head, and put on a coat before you step out in cold weather.
Skip the myths
NIAAA's overdose fact sheet names three of the popular remedies together. Cold showers, hot coffee, and walking do not reverse the effects of an alcohol overdose and could make things worse. Coffee makes you feel more awake. The CDC's wording is that caffeine, used with alcohol, does not reduce the effects of alcohol on your body. That is what makes the combination dangerous, because feeling sober is what gets somebody into a car. In a 2011 trial published in Addiction that put 127 young adults through a driving simulator at a target breath alcohol of 0.12, alcohol badly impaired both driving and reaction time, and adding caffeine to the beer changed neither. You end up less sleepy and no less impaired. A cold shower is on that list too, and it puts a person with impaired balance on a wet floor. Exercise is not a shortcut. The alcohol metabolism review linked in step 1 calls the research on exercise unclear, with most studies reporting a small increase in the elimination rate, and you would be exercising with impaired balance and coordination. Making yourself vomit does not help either, and FAQ 5 below explains why. Another drink the next morning, the hair of the dog, adds alcohol that your liver has to clear. NIAAA's hangover fact sheet says it might temporarily minimize some symptoms and could prolong the hangover.
Know when to call 911
Call 911 immediately if you suspect an alcohol overdose, which is also called alcohol poisoning. It means there is so much alcohol in the blood that the parts of the brain that control breathing, heart rate, and body temperature begin to shut down. These are the critical signs on NIAAA's list. The person is confused or in a stupor. They cannot be woken up, or are struggling to stay conscious. They are vomiting. They are having seizures. Their breathing is slow (fewer than 8 breaths per minute) or irregular (gaps of 10 or more seconds between breaths). Their heart rate is slow. Their skin is clammy, pale, or bluish, or their body is very cold. Their responses are dulled, including the gag reflex that prevents choking. Do not wait for every symptom to appear before calling. The NIAAA says plainly that it is dangerous to assume an unconscious person will be fine sleeping it off, and that a person who has passed out can die. Getting someone in trouble is the wrong thing to weigh against this. As of 2024, the University of Virginia's Gordie Center counted 49 states and Washington DC with medical amnesty laws, also called 911 Good Samaritan or 911 Lifeline laws (separate from the Good Samaritan laws that protect people who give first aid), which give limited legal protection to the caller and to the person who needs help over things like underage drinking. The protection varies by state and is limited rather than absolute, so read it as one less reason to hesitate. This is general information, not legal advice. While waiting for help, stay with them. Keep them on the ground, sitting or partly upright, and not in a chair. If they are vomiting, have them lean forward. If they are unconscious or lying down, roll them onto one side with an ear toward the ground. Do not give them coffee, put them in a cold shower, or walk them around (step 7), and do not put food or drink in the mouth of someone who is not fully awake. Be ready to tell the responders what they drank, roughly how much, what other drugs they took, and anything you know about their medications, allergies, or health conditions.
Plan ahead next time
Set a number of drinks before you start, and pace yourself to it. Pacing lowers the peak, and it does not cancel the alcohol out. At one standard drink an hour you are still taking in about twice what the average 70 kg person clears (step 1), so your BAC keeps rising, only more slowly. NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern that brings BAC to 0.08 or higher, which for a typical adult is five or more drinks for a man, or four or more for a woman, in about 2 hours. Stay well under that. Eat a real meal before you start drinking. Food slows the emptying of your stomach into the small intestine, which is where alcohol is absorbed fastest. What the meal is made of matters less than whether you eat one. In a 1997 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, nine men drank a small dose of alcohol after fat-heavy, carbohydrate-heavy, and protein-heavy breakfasts. All three meals roughly halved peak blood alcohol against drinking on an empty stomach, and the composition made little difference. Alternate every alcoholic drink with a glass of water. It slows your pace and replaces fluid. If you are at a bar, order water alongside your drink instead of waiting until you feel thirsty. Count in standard drinks, not glasses. A craft IPA at 8% ABV in a 16-ounce pint glass is about 2.1 standard drinks. An 8-ounce pour of 12% wine is 1.6, and a cocktail made with 3 ounces of 40% spirits is 2. NIAAA's own example is a 12-ounce beer at 10% alcohol, which is 2 standard drinks. Arrange your ride home before you start drinking, whether that is a rideshare app, a designated driver, or public transit. A decision made sober does not have to be made again while you are impaired.
If anyone shows a sign from step 8, call 911 before you do anything else here. That is never an overreaction. If you have to drive tomorrow, work out your time with FAQ 1 below, add a margin, and arrange a ride if the numbers are close. If you wake with a headache, read FAQ 2 below before you take a painkiller. Expect a poor night. NIAAA's hangover fact sheet says sleep after drinking is fragmented, and our guide on how to sleep better covers what alcohol does to a night's sleep. If nights like this keep happening, or you find it hard to stop once you start, talk to your doctor. NIAAA's Alcohol Treatment Navigator is a website that helps adults find alcohol treatment for themselves or for an adult they care about.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
Count about 2 hours for each standard drink, starting from when you began drinking. That is the average for a 70 kg (154 lb) person from step 1, so four drinks take about 8 hours and five take about 10. NIAAA's definition of binge drinking gives a second check. Five drinks for a man, or four for a woman, in about 2 hours bring a typical adult to a BAC of 0.08 or higher, and from 0.08 the average rate of 0.015 an hour needs at least another 5.3 hours to reach zero. A smaller body takes longer. The NHTSA page linked in step 2 explains that a heavier body holds more water, which dilutes the alcohol, and that women generally have less body water per pound than men. Eating shortens the wait a little (step 4). Add time to whatever you work out, because your own rate can be slower than the average.
Be careful with all of them. NIAAA's hangover fact sheet warns that the combination of alcohol and acetaminophen (the drug in Tylenol) can be toxic to the liver. It adds that aspirin and ibuprofen can increase acid release and irritate the lining of the stomach, as alcohol does, and its advice is to proceed with caution when using these medications before or after drinking. A 1998 review in NIAAA's own journal goes further and says acetaminophen should be avoided during a hangover, because alcohol metabolism increases its toxicity to the liver. If you take a prescription medication, ask a pharmacist before you add anything. The same fact sheet says no hangover remedy has been scientifically proven to work, and that only time helps.
No. Caffeine makes you feel more alert, and the CDC says it does not reduce the effects of alcohol on your body. This combination is dangerous because you feel capable and awake while your coordination, reaction time, and judgment are still impaired. A review of twelve randomized trials of caffeinated alcoholic drinks found that caffeine offsets some of the simpler effects of alcohol, including how drunk a person feels, and that the benefit disappears as the task gets harder, driving included. The same review found that mixing the two raises impulsivity and how much people end up drinking.
Yes. If you stopped drinking at midnight with a BAC of 0.20, the average rate of 0.015 an hour keeps you over the 0.08 driving limit until about 8 AM, over Utah's 0.05 limit until about 10 AM, and you would not be back to zero until after 1 PM. And that is the average. A slower body, or alcohol still being absorbed after your last drink, pushes all of those times later. Sleep clears alcohol no faster than sitting up does, so a full night in bed after heavy drinking can still leave you over the limit at breakfast. Reaching zero is not the end of it either. NIAAA's hangover fact sheet says a hangover can impair attention, decision-making, and muscle coordination, and with them the ability to drive.
No. Vomiting only removes alcohol that is still sitting in your stomach, and you have no way of knowing how much is. Absorption carries on after your last drink, which is why blood alcohol often keeps climbing for a while, and it also means you cannot tell what is still in your stomach and what has already moved into your blood. Vomiting only reaches the first part. Do not make yourself vomit. NIAAA's overdose fact sheet names choking on vomit as a danger of heavy drinking, because alcohol at very high levels can hinder the gag reflex.
No. Being under the limit is not the same as being fit to drive, and you cannot tell by how you feel. The NHTSA page linked in step 2 lists effects on driving at a BAC of 0.02 (a decline in visual functions and in the ability to do two tasks at once) and at 0.05 (reduced coordination, difficulty steering, and a reduced response to emergency driving situations). In 2024, 2,028 people were killed in crashes in which a driver had a BAC of 0.01 to 0.07, on top of the 11,904 killed in crashes involving a driver at 0.08 or higher. NHTSA also says a person will likely be too impaired to drive before looking or feeling drunk. Wait until the alcohol has cleared (FAQ 1), or take a ride.
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