After a long feast, there is often a need to bring yourself back to normal. But this is not always easy to do, since there is no universal way to quickly remove alcohol from the body. Theoretically, you can use a hospital IV for this, but few people dare to do this.
The main task of sobering up is to cleanse the blood of alcohol that has entered it and free the gastrointestinal tract from decay products. It is also important to restore normal functioning of the nerves and brain. There are several effective ways to sober up.
How to sober up for a short time?
If you need to bring a drunken person back to his senses for just a few minutes, then you can resort to one of the three simplest and most accessible methods:
- Several quick blows to the face;
- Cold shower (you can just pour water on your head);
- Wiping with snow.
All this affects the nervous system and stimulates the body. Therefore, each of these methods is very effective. You can also help a person sober up by massaging certain parts of the body, in particular: palms, feet and ears. They contain many biologically active points. And if they are stimulated, they will give a jolt to the intoxicated body. The nervous system can also be stimulated with mint and bay leaves, toothpaste, and sparkling water.
Traditional drinks such as tea and coffee also help sober up. It is better to use the latter, as it contains more caffeine. In this case, it is advisable not to add sugar to the drink, since this substance, being a pure carbohydrate, will increase the rate of absorption of the alcohol consumed in the stomach and intestines.
How to sober up for a long time?
If you need to stay sober not for a few minutes, but for much longer (for example, a couple of hours), then you should take measures to help increase the rate of elimination of alcohol and waste products from the body. One of the most effective ways is to cleanse the intestines with an enema.
You need to do this 2-3 times, using a total of 2 liters of water. Moreover, the liquid should not be too hot, but not cold either. After this, you need to rinse your stomach. Water is also used for this. It is recommended to take 0.7 liters at a time, and in total it should take about 7 liters.
If you need to remove alcohol that is already in the blood, then a special device called an “artificial kidney” will help speed up the process. Intravenous infusions can also come to the rescue.
However, this can only be done while in the hospital and having all the necessary substances and tools at hand. At home, you have to resort to other methods: using diuretics, visiting a bathhouse or sauna, increasing the amount of air consumed.
Moreover, it is not at all necessary to go to a pharmacy or hospital for a diuretic. Ordinary mineral water can perfectly fulfill its role. The main thing is to try to drink more. You can also use beer for the same purpose, but it must be non-alcoholic, otherwise the situation will only get worse.
Diuretic products also include many berries: strawberries, strawberries, watermelon, bearberry. Dandelion, green tea, and oatmeal have the same properties.
If a person who has lost consciousness has an athletic build, then significant physical activity can sober him up, during which a lot of sweat will be released and the heart rate will increase.
Then you can take ascorbic acid. And after a quarter of an hour after washing, it is recommended to use a 5% solution of thiamine. This substance can be easily found in any pharmacy.
Folk remedies:
Fruits that contain a lot of fructose can help with intoxication. These are primarily apples, pears, etc. They are very common and therefore it is possible that they may be at hand.
Bee honey helps you sober up. After all, it also contains fructose. However, you need to drink it slowly, otherwise it can lead to stomach upset.
A good remedy for intoxication is cow's milk. According to doctors, it does not allow alcohol to be quickly absorbed. A couple of glasses of this product, taken before the start of the feast, will contribute to quick sobering up.
You can prepare a special remedy with a sobering effect using mint or raspberries. Its recipe is as follows: you need to take a glass of vodka, put one teaspoon of mint in it, then close the container and leave for 7 days. And in order to come to your senses after intoxication, you need to take a glass of water in which 20 drops of this tincture are diluted.
Ammonia can help not only with its pungent odor. It can also be taken orally by first diluting 5 drops in a glass of water.
You can prepare a special remedy from pepper, tomato, vegetable oil, egg, horseradish and vinegar. First you need to take one pinch of black pepper, then the same amount of red pepper and salt and pour it all into a tablespoon filled with sunflower oil. Then the yolk and a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste are added to this mixture. In a separate container you need to mix vinegar and horseradish. Then both resulting compositions can be combined into one. This will already be a product ready for use. In order to sober up, you need to drink everything at once in one sip.
When intoxicated, an aspirin tablet washed down with an sour drink always helps. This could be, for example, orange, tomato or apple juice. Another effective drug is ibuprofen.
In order to sober up, you don’t have to take anything internally. A simple walk in the fresh air often helps to get rid of intoxication. But at the same time, you need to try to take steps more often, thereby putting stress on the body. In this case it will be very useful. Alcohol will be quickly processed, and soon a negligible amount will remain in the body. During such a health walk, you should try to refrain from smoking, as excess toxic substances will only worsen the situation.
A similar effect can be had on the brain, forcing it to work. Doing a crossword puzzle or reading a book is a good mental exercise that can help you feel sober after doing it.
Sobering massage
You can improve a drunk person's condition through massage. It should be done like this.
First you need to press on the point located between the mouth and nose. Then the same needs to be done with the point that is located on the left hand between the bases of two fingers: the index and thumb.
You can understand where exactly the desired point is located by the strong pain when pressing. Having found the point, you need to touch the skin with your thumb, and then press firmly and start moving in a circle, managing to make two revolutions in a second.
Such a massage can last only half a minute, after which the person will become sober for a while.
All the methods described above can reduce alcohol intoxication. And many of them, in addition, also prevent the serious consequences of an overdose of alcoholic beverages.
Not a single holiday is complete without drinking alcohol. But sometimes cases arise when there is an urgent need to come to your senses, so everyone needs to know how to quickly sober up in an emergency.
What is sobering up
Sobering up is the complete withdrawal of all alcohol that has entered the body over a set period. At this time, ethanol decomposes first into acetaldehyde, and then into acetic acid and water. This is a complex chemical process that can last up to several days.
In medical institutions, for detoxification after drinking alcohol, special compounds and drugs are used, the administration of which is impossible at home.
Therefore, few people succeed in quickly returning to a normal state on their own, especially if the alcohol consumption was plentiful and the alcohol was strong.
However, if you consistently use the entire range of measures available at home, after a while you can feel much better, gain the ability to think clearly and adequately assess the situation.
Is there a difference in how men and women sober up?
It has been proven that the speed of alcohol elimination depends on:
- on what kind of alcohol was drunk - strong or light;
- on how well a person ate and what;
- from body weight;
- on health status;
- from age;
- from the floor.
The decay rate of ethanol is on average 1 ml per 10 kg of human weight per 1 hour. Therefore, everyone will be able to independently calculate how long it will take for alcohol to leave the body. However, it has been found that in women the process of complete sobering takes much longer than in men.
Since the female body most often contains less water, with the same amount of alcohol consumed, its content in the blood will be higher, even with the same body weight as a man.
But most often, women do not drink strong alcohol in the same quantities as men, so a sober state may occur faster. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account all factors influencing the degree of intoxication.
How to sober up quickly
To quickly recover after drinking alcoholic beverages, you can use several proven methods.
Method 1: Induce vomiting
The primary measure to quickly sober up is to get rid of the contents of the stomach as soon as possible, which are saturated with alcohol residues that have not yet entered the bloodstream. To do this, you need to induce vomiting. If you cannot achieve this process naturally, you need to press on the root of the tongue with your fingers or a teaspoon, in which case the gag reflex will work.
If it was not possible to empty the stomach at one time, you need to repeat the procedure, and during the breaks drink clean water, but under no circumstances alcohol.
Method 2: Eat a big meal
Quite often, in order to return to normal, a drunk person needs to eat well. You need foods rich in protein, carbohydrates and fiber. This could be scrambled eggs and lean steak. These dishes are rich in amino acids, which help the liver quickly process the remaining ethyl alcohol.
It's good to eat a serving of boiled or baked potatoes with tomato ketchup. A vegetable salad with sour cream, vinaigrette, and sauerkraut would be helpful. They will help restore the balance of vitamins.
Classic dishes for intoxication or hangover are borscht in meat broth, shurpa, Armenian khash, jellied meat with horseradish. Hot spices, such as chili pepper or mustard, are an effective way to speed up your metabolism. Tomato juice with salt and pepper is healthy, as well as freshly squeezed juice from any citrus fruit.
After such a meal, according to experts, you can sober up in 30 minutes.
Method 3: rinse the stomach
Gastric lavage is a necessary procedure after vomiting. It is needed to speed up the absorption of clean water, which should be drunk in large quantities after vomiting. This will prevent dehydration.
Experts recommend drinking 1.5-2 liters of water, either pure or with one or two crystals of potassium permanganate dissolved in it. Then empty your stomach. If necessary, the procedure can be repeated - the water coming out should not contain food particles.
In addition, it is necessary to empty the intestines naturally, and then do an enema of 2 liters of slightly acidified water.
Method 4: Exercise your mind or body
A good way to sober up is physical activity, but it should only be used if there are no heart problems and blood pressure is not elevated at the time of intoxication. You can do a short jog or aerobic exercises outside - fresh air will create additional conditions for returning to normal. You need to monitor your heart rate - after exercise it should not exceed 120-130 beats/min.
If a person is not very physically prepared and such a load is beyond his strength, you can engage in mental activity - solve crosswords, remember poems from the school curriculum, try to read a smart book and retell a passage. Such exercises will help activate brain activity and help you get out of a state of intoxication.
Method 5: sniff ammonia
In some cases, ammonia helps to instantly recover from alcohol. Most often, this method works for mild intoxication.
It is necessary to open the bottle of ammonia and inhale its vapor several times, but this must be done with caution and do not use the product for more than 5-7 seconds. You can first rub the tip of your nose with your fingers to improve your olfactory abilities.
Some experts advise taking ammonia dissolved in water internally, but this is prohibited. When combined with ethanol, the substance can cause a severe allergic reaction.
Method 6: Drink coffee or tea
To quickly sober up at home, it is recommended to drink as much fluid as possible. This will help:
- accelerate the removal of alcohol from the body by enhancing kidney function and increased sweating;
- avoid dehydration.
Strong, sweet black tea with honey and lemon or green tea with ginger effectively copes with these tasks and fills the body with vigor due to the sufficient caffeine content.
However, coffee, contrary to popular belief, will not help in this case, since it has a diuretic effect, and the body is already dehydrated. In addition, it gives a false sense of sobriety, which can lead to rash actions.
Therefore, instead of coffee, it is advisable to drink natural juices, herbal infusions, and mineral water.
Method 7: water procedures
A warm bath or contrast shower often helps to sober up quickly. However, it is better to avoid too cold water; you can only wash your face with it or hold your hands up to the elbows in it - this helps to come to your senses.
Warm water is suitable for showering, alternating with moderately cool, but not icy, water.
Only those who do not have problems with the heart or blood pressure can visit a sauna or bath while tipsy, since exposure to ethanol and hot air can make unhealthy people feel ill.
Method 8: Medicines
To sober up, they often resort to medication. Most often these are vitamins that help restore normal conditions.
Therefore, to sober up, you need to take ascorbic acid (better if it is in soluble form) in a dosage of 2.5 g per 70 kg of body weight.
Alcohol is excreted well in the urine, so you can take diuretics, in particular 1 tablet of 25 mg Veroshpiron.
If a little time has passed after drinking alcohol and most of the alcohol has not yet been absorbed in the stomach, you can take sorbents that will prevent its further penetration into the blood. You can use Enterosgel, Smecta, Polysorb, activated carbon. However, after 1.5 hours it is useless to drink them.
It is effective to use special anti-hangover drugs that contain unithiol or succinic acid. These substances accelerate metabolism and thereby accelerate the removal of alcohol breakdown products from the body.
How to get rid of fume smell
Fumes are an integral part of drinking any alcohol, so you always need to know how to get rid of it. It must be remembered that using a breathalyzer, alcohol vapors can always be detected, but external manifestations can be masked in the following ways:
- Thoroughly brush your teeth, gums, tongue, rinse your mouth with mineral water, green tea, and tooth balm.
- Use fruit chewing gum (mint fumes only intensify).
- Brew strong natural coffee and drink it without sugar or milk, savoring it in your mouth.
- Chew some roasted coffee beans.
- Chew parsley and cilantro.
- You can nibble on roasted sunflower seeds - their persistent, specific smell can successfully overcome the unpleasant aroma after drinking alcohol.
- To get rid of the fumes after champagne, non-fortified wine or beer, you just need to wait a while, for example, sleep for 30-60 minutes.
Often, in order to quickly sober up after vodka, people under the influence of alcohol commit life-threatening actions.
For example, water treatments in a bath of ice water or swimming in an ice hole or in the snow are common. This should not be done under any circumstances, since temperature changes can cause vasospasm and cardiac arrest. And sudden hypothermia can lead to severe inflammatory diseases.
Smoking is prohibited, as nicotine enhances the effect of ethanol and worsens the condition of the body. It is undesirable to take any medications, since in most cases they are incompatible with ethanol.
Repeated consumption of ethanol-containing liquids, including non-alcoholic beer, is prohibited, since the liver, which did not have time to process the previous portion of alcohol, will receive a strong toxic blow.
Preventive measures
If a person knows that after drinking alcohol he needs to quickly return to a normal state after some time, preventive measures can be taken. First of all, it is advisable to drink light alcoholic drinks that have a short elimination period - beer, wine, champagne.
It is believed that dairy products prevent the absorption of alcohol in the stomach, so you can drink 1-2 glasses of milk before drinking alcohol.
You can prepare a means in advance to revive a drunk person. You need to make a mint tincture: add 1 tsp to 1 glass of good vodka. mint leaves, cover and keep in a cool, dark place for 7 days. Strain. If necessary, dissolve 20 drops of tincture in 1 glass of lukewarm water and drink. It is believed that this remedy will help you sober up in 5 minutes.
In order not to find yourself in a similar situation, it is advisable not to mix different types of alcohol with each other, and most importantly, know the limits in its use.
Every person should know how to sober up quickly at home. Of course, it is better not to abuse alcohol, so as not to ask such questions. It is important to note that the method of sobering up depends on gender, weight, and the amount of alcohol consumed.
How to drink alcohol correctly
Even if there are high-quality alcoholic drinks on the table, it is not recommended to mix them. If you have to drink various types of alcohol, then you need to adhere to the rule: the degree can only be increased, that is, after wine you can drink vodka, but not beer. Otherwise, the person quickly gets drunk and experiences a severe hangover the next morning.
You also need to eat well. A lot depends on this. In order not to wonder how to sober up quickly at home, it is recommended to snack on alcohol with various salads dressed with vegetable oil or mayonnaise, fish, meat dishes, and especially experts recommend eating potatoes during a feast.
Between drinks you must maintain a time interval of half an hour. If you need to reduce the smell of alcohol, then parsley and lemon, as well as coffee beans, will help.
You should never use a straw. The fact is that the oral cavity contains a large number of blood vessels, which are located in close proximity to the mucous membrane. Many ladies use a straw, which leads to rapid absorption of alcohol into the blood. Therefore, even drinking low-alcohol drinks can lead to severe intoxication.
How to quickly sober up at home
If after a feast you need to sober up in a short period of time, then it is recommended to use effective folk methods.
If alcoholic drinks have been drunk recently, then you need to remove the alcohol from the stomach by vomiting. If that doesn’t work, you can drink strong coffee with salt. It is important to note that this method will only be effective if the alcohol has not yet been absorbed, otherwise it can lead to dehydration. If a person feels ill after drinking a coffee drink, then you need to rub your ears, which will lead to a heavy rush of blood.
Mint tincture relieves intoxication well. It must be prepared in advance. For you need to add 1 tsp. dry mint in a glass of vodka. The infusion is aged for about one week. To sober up quickly at home, you need to stir 20 drops of the prepared infusion in one glass of cold water. The drink must be drunk in several sips.
After the party, it is recommended to drink mint tea with lemon. Coffee with the addition of lemon also helps sober up. Experts note that it is better to drink such drinks before drinking alcohol, as well as after a party. This is explained by the fact that mint, caffeine and lemon have a powerful tonic effect.
Another good way to quickly sober up is ammonia. You need to give it to a drunk person to drink. To prepare, you need to add 5-6 drops of this alcohol to one glass of water.
When a person is very intoxicated, he needs to empty his stomach. A good solution is a soda solution. To do this, add one tablespoon of baking soda to one liter of boiled, cooled water. Then drink activated carbon in a dosage of 1 tablet for every 10 kilograms of weight, followed by one aspirin tablet.
There is one more sobering remedy. You need to mix a small amount of horseradish with 2 tsp. tomato paste, 1 tsp. sunflower oil, 1 tsp. cognac, one egg yolk and salt and pepper.
You can replace the soda solution with two glasses of sour kefir or yogurt.
If a person is not allergic to natural honey, then it is recommended that he eat about 200 grams at once. Thanks to the fructose content, alcohol will quickly leave the body.
Traditional recipes for quick sobering up
- Mix one drop of sunflower or olive oil, one yolk, one tablespoon of pepper, a couple of drops of lemon juice, two teaspoons of hot ketchup, and a small amount of pepper. The prepared drink is drunk in one gulp to achieve maximum effect.
- Mix the following ingredients: one egg yolk, one tablespoon of gin, two teaspoons of sunflower or olive oil, a small amount of pepper. The drink is also drunk in one gulp.
How to get sober in a few minutes at home
If you need to bring a person to his senses within five minutes, then you need to drink vitamin C. To do this, an effervescent tablet must be dissolved in one glass of water.
If a person is very intoxicated, then it is better for him to add a couple of tablets. If you don’t have such a tablet on hand, you can add lemon or orange juice to the water.
An excellent option is a contrast shower. You can start water procedures with warm or cold water, but you need to end with cold water only. After this, the person should feel relief and think soberly.
Since ancient times, intoxication has been relieved with cold cucumber pickle. If you have dill seeds, chew them for a few minutes. You can also prepare a decoction of dill.
Hot tea with honey also has sobering properties. You should know that a large amount of natural honey will sober up a person faster and ease a hangover in the morning.
After drinking alcohol, the human body is dehydrated, so you need to drink plenty of water. You should refrain from smoking, as nicotine enhances the effects of alcohol.
In order not to wonder how to sober up quickly at home, it is recommended to adhere to the norm and also control the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
In the morning after a stormy evening, a person, as a rule, feels various unpleasant consequences of drinking: headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness, and a general deterioration in well-being.
It happens that someone decided to have a good time relaxing with friends over the weekend and has already taken a considerable dose of alcohol, and he is suddenly called to work due to an urgent need. Also, a drunk person can be caught off guard by a variety of circumstances. In such a situation, one question arises: how to get sober faster?
There are several ways to quickly cope with a state of intoxication, and below we will talk about them.
How long does it take to remove alcohol from the body?
Experts say that the blood is completely cleared of alcohol within 24 hours. However, what is of great importance here is how much and what kind of alcohol was drunk.
It’s difficult to say exactly how much time you need to sleep to recover from intoxication and wake up sober. However, there are some observations based on the amount of alcohol consumed the day before. So, someone who drinks a large amount of alcohol needs to sleep for 8-9 hours. If we are talking about drinks with low alcohol content, then 4-5 hours is enough for sleep.
How to eliminate fumes
Any person who has consumed a lot of alcohol the day before will smell unpleasant. To get rid of fumes, you need to:
- Take a shower and brush your teeth.
- Eat porridge generously seasoned with sunflower oil for breakfast.
- When getting ready for work, eat a spoonful of flaxseed oil or a walnut (after these products get into the stomach mucosa, the bad smell will disappear).
- 10 minutes before communicating with colleagues, chew fruit-flavored gum. Please note: mint chewing gum is not suitable for these purposes, as it only enhances the smell of fumes.
- 5 minutes before an important meeting, chew parsley, coffee beans or bay leaf.
How to quickly sober up at home
If you have already consumed enough, and you urgently need to get yourself back to normal, then you should do some physical exercises. Then you need to take a cold shower and walk in the fresh air. The time during which, with the help of such manipulations, you can recover from drinking, ranges from ten minutes to several hours, depending on the individual characteristics of the body.
Strong coffee will help you sober up quickly after vodka. Having taken a cold shower after a fragrant hot drink, you will notice that the smell of alcohol has disappeared and your thoughts are no longer confused.
To become sober within an hour, you can do light exercises, stand in a cold shower for ten minutes and drink a few drops of rose oil.
To help you get rid of alcohol intoxication at home:
- thorough cleaning of the oral cavity with a toothbrush;
- drinking several glasses of carbonated mineral water;
- strong sweet tea or coffee with a pinch of ginger;
- inducing vomiting to remove alcohol toxins from the stomach.
An important point: juice, compote, water and other similar liquids only speed up the absorption of previously consumed alcohol, so you should avoid drinking them heavily.
Today there are enough medications designed to quickly sober up a person. They can be easily found and purchased at every pharmacy.
What will help you sober up quickly after beer?
Intoxication from beer comes unexpectedly, but is very strong and leads to serious consequences. In this case, it may take several hours to sober up. The following will help speed up the process:
- strong green tea or infusion of horseradish roots;
- chewing mint leaves;
- rinsing the mouth with a solution of mint and lettuce leaves.
Helps you sober up from beer:
- Intense exercise, during which alcohol is eliminated from the body through sweat.
- Mental activity: solving crossword puzzles, solving various intellectual problems. This helps organize your thoughts and make your mind clear.
- Massaging the tip of the nose to accelerate blood microcirculation.
- Taking aspirin. The tablet can be replaced with lemon juice or effervescent vitamins.
How to speed up the sobering up process
What can you do to quickly sober up the next morning after drinking alcohol? To do this you need to do the following:
- go for a run in the fresh air;
- take 3-4 tablets of activated carbon.
You can become sober in half an hour by eating three pieces of refined sugar or drinking a glass of hot chocolate.
It happens that a person has been drinking, but he urgently needs to get behind the wheel of a car. In this case, you should do a double or triple enema, after which:
- eat a few pieces of melon or watermelon and drink sweet green tea;
- take a cold bath;
- walk outside for half an hour.
What to drink to sober up
There are many remedies that effectively help you recover from intoxication in a short time, even in an hour. For example, a solution of ammonia helps you become sober in 40-50 minutes. To prepare it, you need to add 3-4 drops of ammonia to a glass of water. You can also soak cotton wool in ammonia and give it to a drunk person to sniff. However, you should not abuse this remedy, otherwise you can provoke diarrhea or frequent vomiting.
Most people do not really believe in the ability of folk remedies to relieve alcohol intoxication. Therefore, they prefer to cleanse themselves from alcohol with the help of:
- Ascorbic acid;
- Activated carbon;
To help a person sober up faster, you can also do the following:
- rub the ears of a drunk person for ten minutes to activate blood flow;
- give the person warm cranberry juice.
- People with severe pain sensitivity should not be sobered by physical manipulation.
- Don't try to get sober in about 30 minutes. To get behind the wheel, it is better to call a taxi.
- A severe deterioration in health after drinking alcohol may indicate alcohol poisoning, so a person with such complaints should call an ambulance as quickly as possible.
So, now you know what you need to do to speed up the sobering up process. Alcohol can be eliminated from the body on its own or with the help of certain means. However, the best way to avoid a hangover, burnout and other unpleasant consequences of drinking alcohol is not to drink.
Briefly:
Ways to sober up for 30 minutes:
- induce vomiting;
- drink black coffee or strong tea;
- foot and ear massage;
- rinse your mouth with soda, brush your teeth, chew mint or bay leaf;
- wash with cold water or snow, take a cold shower.
Ways to sober up for a long time (or if alcohol is still entering the bloodstream):
- enema and gastric lavage;
- sniff ammonia (do not drink!);
- take ascorbic acid (2.5 g per 70 kg body weight);
- after 10-15 minutes, take at least 10 ml of 5% thiamine solution (vitamin B1);
- go out into the fresh air;
- steam bath or sauna (if there are no heart problems);
- diuretics (veroshpiron, drinking plenty of fluids, green tea, watermelon, etc.);
- short but intense physical activity with your heart rate doubling.
What does "sober up" mean? How to achieve sober behavior and how to quickly remove alcohol from the body
It happens that among protracted holidays, circumstances at the most unexpected moment require a sudden and rapid transition from a drunken state to a state requiring meaningful action.
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The author of this article is aware of an episode when one of the participants in a drunken company was stabbed, and he needed to be quickly transported to the nearest institution capable of providing surgical assistance. At the same time, among those able to get behind the wheel, there was not a single sober person left. It was impossible to call for help, and the only way out was to choose the least drunk person and try in a short time to improve his mental perception and motor skills to a level that allows the person to drive a car and not get into an accident.
Do you want to know what to do in such moments? Imagine you are celebrating New Year at a friend’s dacha. Winter, snow, five hundred around, as in Vysotsky’s song. And suddenly the heating or something in the electrical panel breaks down. The only sober people in the house are dogs and there is nowhere to wait for help. If you finish reading the article and remember everything properly, then it is thanks to you that everyone will remain alive. Well, if you don’t finish reading, then there will be no one to rely on.
One important point. If you want alcohol that has already entered the body earlier to somehow be eliminated or destroyed in a matter of minutes, then we have to disappoint you: without the use of special efferent (forcibly removing foreign substances) methods, available only in specialized toxicology departments and centers, this problem is unsolvable in principle. However There are methods that will allow you to achieve sober behavior from a person for a short period of time.
Therefore, the advice will be different: depending on how long you need to get into a sober state, and also and mainly on whether the drunk alcohol is still entering the blood (in scientific terms - the resorption phase) or is already being removed and destroyed (elimination phase ). That is, the question is: how to quickly remove alcohol from the bloodstream.
How to understand this?
- by changes in feelings and behavior;
- You can be guided by the fact that the maximum concentration of alcohol in the blood will be approximately an hour and a half after drinking. But some drinks are absorbed faster and, accordingly, eliminated faster: these are carbonated drinks and champagne; drinks with a temperature higher than body temperature; drinks that you drink in small portions and keep in your mouth for a long time (alcohol is absorbed through the mouth too);
- The onset of the phase of removing alcohol from the blood is indicated by the appearance of a fume smell instead of the smell of alcohol, as well as the beginning of running around to relieve oneself.
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How to get sober in the short term
If you need to sober up for 20 - 25 minutes, and the amount of alcohol in the blood is already decreasing (see above), then you can try to limit yourself to drugs that increase the tone of the nervous system. Such a folk method as washing with cold water or snow, as well as a cold shower or swimming in cold water, massage of the feet and ears, toileting the oral cavity (rinsing with carbonated water, brushing teeth, chewing mint or bay leaf) will help. For oral administration, black coffee or very strong tea is good.
In winter, you can bring an intoxicated person to his senses by taking him outside. Like any other strong impact on the central nervous system (for example, severe pain), this will help achieve sober behavior. However, care must be taken to ensure that a person does not become hypothermic, because intoxication deprives a person of the ability to adequately assess temperature.
The best result will be obtained on a man 30-38 years old, who drinks regularly, but is not an alcoholic, who drank weak or quickly absorbed drinks.
Since drinking liquid increases the absorption of previously taken alcohol in the stomach, it is advisable to empty the stomach by inducing vomiting before drinking coffee or tea.
However, it is better not to put a person who has sobered up with the help of coffee behind the wheel of a car. Researchers from Temple University in Philadelphia (USA) claim that drinking in combination with coffee increases the risk of getting into trouble. A drunk person realizes that he is drunk and may be inadequate. However, having cheered up with the help of coffee, a person seems to be able to do much more than he actually does: after all, in fact, he is still drunk. He still has the same altered state of consciousness and motor disturbances as usual among drunks, but at the same time he feels more alert and begins to behave more boldly, without miscalculating his strength. American researchers conducted an experiment on mice and were convinced that the same thing was observed in them: mice that received coffee and alcohol take unnecessary risks in a maze with traps, while simply drunk mice behave more calmly, and sober mice behave more calmly after coffee. anxious, but cautious.
How to sober up for a long time (more than half an hour)
If it is necessary to maintain a state of sobering for longer than half an hour, as well as if a critical situation arises when alcohol is still entering the blood (see above), one cannot do without measures that reduce resorption, as well as measures to accelerate the removal of alcohol from the blood. So, how to quickly remove alcohol from the blood?
Ideally it is necessary purgation in the form of at least three high enemas, with a total of no less than 2 liters of water at room temperature, then repeated gastric lavages - in portions of no less than 700 ml of water, in total no less than 5 - 8 liters of water.
After washing the gastrointestinal tract you should:
How else can you quickly remove alcohol from the blood?
Accelerates the elimination of alcohol that has already entered the bloodstream in domestic conditions:
- increased oxygen consumption (fresh air);
- steam bath or sauna (only if you are sure that you do not have high blood pressure and pulse, and also if you definitely do not have heart problems!);
- diuretics. The diuretic effect can be obtained by drinking a large amount of liquid (preferably mineral water) or non-alcoholic beer. Also, oatmeal decoction, watermelon, zucchini, garden strawberries and strawberries, dandelion, green tea, and the drug veroshpiron (spironolactone) will have a diuretic effect. To avoid complications, do not take furosemide with alcohol.
How to get rid of fume smell
Fumes are an unpleasant odor from the mouth that is formed by under-oxidized alcohol processing products. To get rid of it, it is not enough to “seize” the fume smell with something even stronger. Only eliminating the cause of the smell will help, that is, removing toxic products of alcohol breakdown from the body.
The most effective detoxification measures are cleansing the gastrointestinal tract and taking diuretics. How to get rid of fumes using other means, read in a separate, detailed article. And also see the diagram that will allow you not to waste time on nonsense, but focus on effective actions:
If the smell of fumes does not go away for a long time or if it appears without drinking alcohol, it is recommended to consult a doctor to identify and eliminate the causes of this unpleasant phenomenon.
How men and women get sober. Is there a difference?
The nature of intoxication in terms of psychomotor consequences is also manifests itself differently in men and women. Thus, in women, motor disorders precede psycho-emotional ones, and in men, as a rule, it’s the other way around.
Therefore, for example, for a forced car ride or to operate a complex device, a man should be chosen, even if he objectively drank more, and a woman should be chosen for negotiations.
If a person does not feel pain, then do not try to sober him up.
If it has been noticed that a person is losing sensitivity to pain, then it is better not to try to sober him up. Choose someone else, even if he drank more.
From a medical point of view, intoxication is nothing more than a manifestation of the narcotic effect of alcohol on the nervous system. Therefore, we emphasize once again that in a critical situation we can talk about nothing more than minimizing the effect of alcohol on the central nervous system, and more specifically, on the brain.
We will call sobering up the cessation or reduction of the narcotic effect of alcohol sufficient (in severity and duration) to solve a specific problem. In this sense, the concept of sobering up does not coincide with the concept of removing alcohol from the body, although it depends on it. Being a narcotic substance, alcohol also has a narcotic effect itself, which consists in the loss of pain sensitivity. Having a narrow therapeutic range, alcohol, after eliminating the sensation of pain, quickly leads to a deep alcoholic coma.
For reference: the therapeutic range is the difference between the concentration of a substance in the blood serum at which a pharmacological effect occurs and the concentration at which a toxic effect occurs.
Scheme: who is better off sobering up
How brain exercises can help
Since the state of intoxication is caused by the interaction of the brain with alcohol, a lot depends on the conscious activity of brain processes. This means that in order to combat intoxication and possible depression of consciousness, a person needs to load the brain with fairly intense mental work - it is best to assign a person who is able to conduct a meaningful conversation with him, force him to perform arithmetic operations, remember some details from life, and decide intelligence tasks and so on.
What to do after
After the critical situation has been resolved, a sober person should refrain from continuing to drink and sleep for 3 to 6 hours. Resumption of drinking is possible after a sufficiently long normal sleep the next day.
If hangover symptoms appear the next morning, follow the hangover treatment regimen or use our free selection of remedies.
Warning about ammonia
Very often on the Internet and in the press, for sobering up, it is recommended to take a very weak solution of ammonia orally: a few drops of ammonia in a glass of water. We can't recommend this recipe enough. There is no theoretical basis for such a recommendation at the current level. Doctors also have no practical experience that would indicate the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the method.
Can you trust online blood alcohol calculators?
There are blood alcohol level calculators on the Internet. They are often used in cases where they have “taken it to their chest” - and soon you need to get behind the wheel or go to an important meeting. And the person wants to find out whether he will have time to cheer up and come to his senses at the right time.
If you enter the same data into different online calculators, you will find that they show different results. Which result in this case is closer to the truth? Our expert, toxicologist Stanislav Radchenko explains that different calculators can use different toxicokinetic (or other) models - that is, take as a basis different rates of alcohol absorption into the blood, processing and removal from the body. Therefore they give different results.
It’s difficult to say which calculator is more accurate, because they all show average results. The actual result in each specific case depends on a very large number of parameters: age, gender, weight, blood type, chronic diseases, current state of health (even ordinary fatigue or mood swings can have an effect), medications taken that day, food, other drinks, whether the drinking took place indoors or outdoors, how high-quality the alcoholic drink was, and so on. Therefore, if you really want to use an online calculator, then it’s better to use the one that ultimately shows a longer time: this will be more reliable than if you rely on a shorter time and be deceived in your expectations.
If you need to drive and you have recently drunk alcohol, do not take risks and do not rely on calculators. Use a breathalyzer. It is really reliable and it is what the police will use to check you if something happens.
Please note that in this article we rely only on scientific evidence. Beware of advice on other sites if you are not sure that it is given by a scientist or specialist. You should not trust your body to charlatans, because only science gives verifiable and reliable results. On the Internet, anyone can write anything on any topic, but we remain the only site in our niche that does not save effort in searching and checking information, and orders articles from real experts.
Alcohol enters the bloodstream from the stomach and intestines
Maximum oral blood alcohol concentration achieved on average after 1.5 hours. When taken orally (through the mouth), as in most cases, approximately 20% of the ingested alcohol is absorbed into the blood from the stomach, 80% from the intestines. Drinks with a strength of up to 30%, champagne, cocktails are absorbed faster; the rate of resorption also increases in the case of all types of causes that increase the permeability of the gastrointestinal barrier, i.e., for example, in the presence of gastritis, peptic ulcer, GERD, enterocolitis, at elevated body temperature.
...or through the oral cavity
Resorption can also occur through the oral mucosa. The amount of alcohol absorbed through the oral mucosa depends on certain conditions, which can be read about in other articles on this site:
- gas bubbles in liquid;
- if a person holds the drink in his mouth for a long time;
- taking in small portions
- the temperature of the drink exceeds body temperature.
Typically, up to 10% of the total volume of alcohol enters the blood through the oral cavity. This is important to understand, first of all, because with the same amounts of alcohol entering the body, it leads to faster and more severe intoxication, but at the same time, intoxication passes faster.
What determines the strength of intoxication?
In turn, not only the speed of intoxication, but also its strength depends on the rate of resorption. Thus, achieving the same blood alcohol concentrations over different periods of time will give very different patterns of intoxication. In the same way, at equal current values of alcohol concentration in the elimination phase, intoxication will be significantly less than in the resorption phase.
How does intoxication pass?
In the elimination phase, the processes of elimination and destruction prevail over the processes of alcohol entering the body. In people who do not drink regularly, almost 90% of alcohol is oxidized with the participation of the enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase, and approximately 10% is excreted unchanged from the body through emergency excretory organs - in our situation these are the lungs (with breathing) and kidneys (with urine). 1 - 2% of ingested alcohol is decomposed by the enzyme catalase, which is present in the muscles and epithelial membranes of some organs.
If a person drinks alcohol at least once a week or experiences physical activity every day, then the role of catalase in the breakdown of alcohol increases significantly - in middle-aged everyday drinkers, as well as in athletes, catalase can destroy up to 12% of alcohol, turning out to be a significant factor in the so-called tolerance to alcohol. alcohol. An indicator such as the ratio of alcohol concentration in urine to its concentration in blood differs significantly in the phases of resorption (0.68) and elimination (1.26). For some time after reaching the maximum concentration in the blood, this indicator is close to unity.
After sobering up, the healthiest thing to do is get a good night's sleep. But it’s not always possible to fall asleep when needed. Read the article about how to fall asleep after drinking alcohol, why it is so useful, which mild sedatives will help you fall asleep, and which sedatives are extremely dangerous to combine with alcohol.
This article was last updated: 02/18/2020
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