If you’ve overindulged at a party, you might be wondering how to flush alcohol out of your system to get rid of a hangover. In that case, the answer is pretty simple. Drink plenty of water, possibly some soda or carbonated water, eat a few healthy meals, go for a walk, and wait it out. But, most people looking up how to flush alcohol out of their system are looking to detox, either because they want to sober up, because they are facing a drug and alcohol test, or because they’re taking medication.
If that’s the case, the answer is unfortunately a lot more difficult. It’s almost impossible to speed up how quickly alcohol leaves your system. However, you might be able to influence how quickly you sober up – although even that won’t always be the case.
Can You Sober Up Quickly?
Unfortunately, once you’re drunk you’re just going to have to wait it out. Having caffeine and some water can help you to feel steady sooner. That’s also true of having a solid meal. However, it won’t reduce the impact of alcohol on your senses any sooner. Instead, you might feel safe driving or work, even when you really shouldn’t be. For most people, you’ll have to wait at least an hour after every unit of alcohol before you’ll sober up. If you’ve had a bunch of shots, that could be the same number of hours as the number of shots you had.
Most importantly, a lot of people resort to chugging water or caffeine. Not only does this not help, it can actually hurt you. Similarly, forcing yourself to throw up won’t reduce the alcohol in your system – although it may prevent you from getting more drunk if you’ve had alcohol within the last 15-45 minutes.
How to Recover From Drinking More Quickly
If you’ve had a long night drinking and are facing a hangover, there’s unfortunately not too much you can do. Here, most of the steps you can take to prevent a hangover are important before or during drinking. For example, eat a good meal before you start drinking, get enough sleep, and drink plenty of water or soda while drinking. You’ll also want to try to drink in moderation – but if that were the case, you wouldn’t be looking for tips.
- Get some exercise, it will help you speed up your metabolism (briefly).
- Drink plenty of water. Alcohol dehydrates and many of the negative effects the day after are “just” dehydration. Of course, it will do more if you try drinking a glass of water per alcoholic beverage you drink at night.
- Get plenty of sleep. Your body needs time to rest and process alcohol.
- Drinking soda while drinking can create pressure in your stomach, moving alcohol through your system more quickly. However, you might also feel the effects of alcohol more quickly.
Those tips may help you with a hangover. However, they won’t really help you to detox.
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Can You Flush Alcohol Out of Your System for a Test?
If you’re facing a drug and alcohol test or a breathalyzer test, there’s not much you can do. Unfortunately, breathalyzers can detect alcohol for 12-24 hours after your last drink. If you have a blood test, it can detect alcohol for up to 12 hours. And, if you have a urine test, that could be up to 80 hours. That can be bad if you’re taking a test and you’ve been drinking when you shouldn’t have been. However, there’s not much you can do. In fact, all of the home remedies such as drinking a great deal of water, taking herbal supplements, or taking detoxes don’t actually work.
You can’t speed up how quickly your body processes alcohol. Instead, that’s determined by factors like your metabolism, body fat, liver health, volume of alcohol consumed, normal alcohol consumption, etc.
Otherwise, there’s no way to fake a test. Instead, you’re recommended to be upfront about it, to admit to drinking alcohol, and to talk about it with your employer. If you just had a late night, everything should be fine. And, even if you’ve broken company rules, you’ll likely still have an easier time if you talk about it right away instead of waiting for a test to come back.
How Do You Detox from Alcohol?
Alcohol detox is the process of going through withdrawal, usually in a controlled medical environment. Depending on how much you drink, how often you drink, and whether or not you experience withdrawal symptoms when you quit drinking, this process may be extremely difficult and dangerous or relatively simple.
In most cases, alcohol withdrawal sets in within 12-24 hours of your last drink. Symptoms start out slowly and increase over the course of a few days. From there, you’ll normally experience cravings, cold and flu symptoms, shaking, paranoia, anxiety, and potentially mild seizures. 2% of heavy drinkers develop into longer-term symptoms with potentially severe side effects. For this reason, if you drink heavily, it’s important to seek out medical detox and support when trying to quit alcohol. Withdrawal should normally take about 2 weeks from start to finish. However, it will only get you through physical addiction to alcohol. If you have cravings, seeking behavior, or behavioral addiction to alcohol, you’ll need addiction treatment to fully quit alcohol.
If you’re drinking so much that you’re concerned about being caught, are struggling with hangovers, or find yourself drinking in situations where you shouldn’t or where it causes danger to others, you probably need help. That often means seeking our addiction treatment including therapy and counseling to help you understand the underlying causes behind your reliance on alcohol, to help you find better coping mechanisms, to help you build life skills to manage stress, and to build a life you can enjoy.
Going to rehab can sound like a big step and it is. At the same time, alcohol addiction treatment can help you to get your life back, and it’s just the first step on a journey to recovery.
If you or your loved-one struggles from alcoholism or other substance abuse please contact us today and speak with one of our experienced and professional intake advisors about our detox, partial hospitalization, and residential treatment programs. We’re here to help you recover.
