How long does alcohol stay in your blood
The question of how long does alcohol stay in your blood depends on several factors. Metabolism of alcohol is a complex process. It takes days to weeks to eliminate it from the body. If you are alcohol addicted person, you must read this article.
Alcohol is not any health drink. You can easily get rid of this habit. You know it takes your all energy to metabolize one drink of alcohol. Excess drinking leads you to serious health issues and ultimately causes death.
There is no single answer to this question that how long does alcohol stay in your blood. Alcohol processes at a different rate for everyone. It usually depends on your number of drinks per hour. Several other factors are responsible for alcohol breakdown.
Your body takes time to process the alcohol. One drink takes one hour to metabolize. However, some tests help us to estimate how long does alcohol stay in your blood.
Following are the three test for detecting alcohol:
You can estimate how long does alcohol stay in your blood by the following test:
1: Blood test:
Alcohol takes about 0.015 per hour to pass out from the bloodstream. Alcohol is detectable in a blood test for more than 24 hours.
2: Urine test:
Alcohol is detectable more than 80 hours after its intake.
3: Hair test:
Yes, alcohol is detectable through your hair. It can detect alcohol for more than 90 hours.
Standard drink:
A drinker should know about a standard drink of alcohol.
One standard drink is about one ounce of beer, 12 ounces of liquor, and a 5-ounce glass of wine.
How long does alcohol stay in your blood for?
Alcohol elimination process:
Your body has a mechanism to eliminate alcohol and its traces. It is quite tough to digest and metabolize the alcohol. Hence, it depends on the number of drinks intake.
When you take a drink of alcohol, it directly enters the digestive system, then to the stomach, and reaches the small intestine. The stomach can digest alcohol by about 20%. The rest of 80% goes from the small intestine to the bloodstream. After this, it goes all over the body. That’s why alcohol disturbs your body functions.
A large amount of liver remains in the liver. The liver metabolizes this alcohol. Commonly, the liver processes only one standard drink in one hour. If a drinker takes more drinks, this system cannot hold it. An excess amount of alcohol will mix in the bloodstream and other related issues. If this is going on for a long time, it will damage the brain and tissues of the body.
The human body has a high capacity for processing alcohol. If anyone is taking alcohol quickly, it will lead to alcohol poisoning. Our body metabolizes about 90-98% alcohol. Rest of the alcohol processes by sweat, urine, vomit, and feces.
How alcohol does enter your bloodstream?
Blood alcohol concentration (BAC):
The answer to the question of how long does alcohol stay in your blood depends on blood alcohol concentration. What is blood alcohol concentration? It is the amount of alcohol in the blood of your body. It is the percentage of ethanol in blood in terms of units of mass over alcohol per volume.
It varies from person to person. One ounce of alcohol has about 0.015% BAC.
So, it is very important to understand that alcohol stays in the blood as long as you drink more drinks. Your high drink will take you in danger.
BAC above 0.055% is an alarming situation for you. Your body transforms from positive to negative. Your happiness changes into depression and anxiety. Your calmness changes into irritation and confusion. You will feel disturbed all the time.
Blood alcohol concentration formula:
The BAC round about 0.08-0.09% will make you senseless. Your motor skills become assorted. Mostly, people start vomiting at this stage due to over drinking. Vomiting is good in this sense. Your body will start to metabolize alcohol quickly. Persons should not drive at this BAC.
Irregular BAC level causes serious health issues like:
- Memory loss
- Slurred speech
- Suffocation
- Breathing
- Vomiting
- Confused personality
- Loss of balance
Factors involved in how long does alcohol stay in your blood:
Following factors involved in how long does alcohol stay in your blood:
There is a condition of BAC for alcohol to stay in the blood. Many of us have different BAC levels. BAC fluctuate due to these reasons:
- Age
Age matters a lot. Alcohol stays long in an elder’s blood than a younger’s blood. There are high risks of infection and intoxication to damage the liver. The water level also gets down with increasing age, leads to high BAC. Older men have some health issues as well. All these reasons make the alcohol process slow.
- Food
Food highly affects the alcohol process. We recommend you not to drink with an empty stomach. Drinking with an empty stomach increases the risk of health issues by about 3 times. Proper diet helps your body to stimulate enzymes in the liver. They speed up the alcohol metabolic rate.
- Body size
The body size and composition effects how long does alcohol stays in your blood. A fatty person has more BAC than a slim smart person. Maintaining body weight is important if you drink alcohol.
- Race
Alcohol has different effects on different races. East Asians do not have enough enzymes to break alcohol. So, they may have issues while drinking. They may feel facial flushing, nausea, sleepy, high heart rate, and severe headache.
- Family history
Alcohol addiction does not have any relationship with family history. But there is some connection. Yes, this connection means their genetic history. Genetic history is related to the metabolism and elimination of alcohol in your body.
- Medication
Medicines interact with alcohol and disturb the alcohol’s process. It increases the rate of BAC and affects the internal organs fast.
Following are the medicines that cause intoxication with alcohol:
- Depression and anxiety medicines like Xanax
- ADAH
- Cold medicines
Diabetes medications also contribute to it.
Long-term effects of alcohol:
Alcohol drinking can cause the following serious health issues:
- Mouth cancer
- Throat cancer
- Heart attack
- Cardio arrest
- Disable Brain
- Accidents
- Pancreatic disorders
- Cerebrovascular diseases
- Stomach problem
- Nervous system disorders
Must take precautions while drinking.
We request you to take just a standard drink.
Treatment for alcohol addiction:
Doctors recommend various forms of treatments. It depends on your addiction. If you or any of your loved ones is starting his recovery journey, we have a list of the best treatments for you.
- Medication associated with diseases
Medication will help you to deal with your alcohol addiction. Start your recovery with medication.
- Treatment at your home
If you do not have an addiction but just a bad habit of drinking, start your recovery at home. You do not need to go to the clinic or hospital. Just hire a consultant and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
- Hospitalization treatment
It exceeds standards for alcohol drinking. Go instantly to the hospital.
- Intensive treatment
It is for the alcoholics who do not complete their treatment. They have to continue their recovery journey from the start.
Final discussion
Alcohol drinking is a part of an American’s lifestyle. Normally, one or two drinks are moderate for a person. When you intake alcohol, it enters directly into the stomach. Then, it goes from the small intestine to the blood. Now, you might have a question how can we find alcohol from blood? We find it with a blood test. Three types of tests can detect alcohol. A blood test detects alcohol after about 24 hours.
A blood test has a standard called blood alcohol concentration BAC. Its level tells you about the amount of alcohol present in your blood. If BAC becomes high above 0.055, it causes life-threatening issues. So, there is a need to maintain your drinks.
There are certain factors involved in how long does alcohol stay in your blood. These factors are age, weight, race, medication, food, and genetics.
Alcohol causes long-term effects like mouth cancer, cardio arrest, and stomach disorders and disables your mental abilities.
If you fail to control your alcoholic addiction, go to your doctor. He will guide you about your treatment.
Life is a blessing of God. We all have only one chance to live. Do not destroy it with alcohol addiction.
