If you’ve been drinking alcohol, how quickly can your body process and eliminate the drug from your system? For example, how long does alcohol stay in urine?
How Does the Body Process Alcohol?
When we think about the relationship between alcohol and the human body, we often focus on the cognitive and functional impairments that the drug can cause. But the body isn’t simply a passive recipient of alcohol’s effects.
At the same time that alcohol is causing changes in how a person thinks, feels, and acts, their body is working to break the drug down into component parts so that it can be safely eliminated. This process is referred to as metabolization, and it occurs primarily in the liver.
How does alcohol get to the liver?
To get to the liver, alcohol first has to enter the bloodstream. This occurs mostly in the stomach and the small intestine, where it is absorbed through epithelial cells that line both of these organs.
It typically takes about 20 seconds for blood to circulate through the entire body, which means that the metabolization process can begin very quickly. This is also why it doesn’t take very long for alcohol to start affecting the brain and other parts of the body once it has reached the bloodstream.
What happens in the liver?
When alcohol molecules pass through the liver, several enzymes begin to act on them. Two enzymes that play a major role in metabolism are alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH):
- First, ADH converts alcohol molecules into a substance called acetaldehyde. This substance is extremely toxic, and has been identified as a potential cause of cancer.
- When a person’s system is functioning as it should, the acetaldehyde should only be present for a brief period.
- Soon after alcohol is converted into acetaldehyde, the enzyme ALDH gets to work. ALDH turns acetaldehyde into a much safer substance called acetate.
- Acetate is then broken down into water and carbon dioxide, both of which can then be efficiently eliminated from the body.
How long does the entire process take?
The speed with which a person’s body metabolizes alcohol can be influenced by several factors, including:
- Their age, gender, and weight
- How much alcohol they consumed and how quickly they consumed it
- If they had food in their stomach when they started drinking
- Their history of alcohol use
- If their liver and other organs are functioning properly
Generally speaking, a healthy adult body can usually process about one standard drink per hour. Another way to put this is that once you stop drinking, your blood alcohol content (BAC) should decline by about 0.015% per hour.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), examples of a standard drink include:
- 12 fluid ounces of regular beer with 5% alcohol by volume, or ABV
- 5 fl. oz. of standard table wine with an ABV of 12%
- 3-4 fl. oz. of fortified wine (17% ABV)
- 1.5 fl. oz. of whiskey, vodka, gin, or other distilled spirits (40% ABV)
How Long Does Alcohol Stay in Urine?
Alcohol can leave the body in many ways, such as through breath, sweat, urine, and feces. Urine is the most common route, both for alcohol that is filtered directly by the kidneys and for the water that results from metabolization in the liver.
However, even though the body eliminates about one drink per hour, that doesn’t mean you can simply count the number of drinks you’ve had to determine how long alcohol will remain in your urine.
Usually, a urine test will return a positive result for alcohol for about 12-24 hours after your last drink. However, in some cases, a urine screen may find evidence of alcohol use as long as 72 hours (three days) after you stopped drinking. The 72-hour detection window is more likely if you’ve been drinking heavily.
In addition to how much you drank, several of the other factors that can affect metabolization – such as age, gender, weight, and health – can also influence how long alcohol stays in urine.
How Long Does Alcohol Stay in Other Samples?
Urine tests aren’t the only types of screenings that are used to determine the presence of alcohol in a person’s symptoms. Other samples that may be analyzed include:
- Breath: The detection window for alcohol on a breath test is usually about 12-24 hours.
- Saliva: Saliva analysis will usually reveal alcohol use for about 12 hours after your most recent drink.
- Blood: Blood tests are also likely to return a positive result for alcohol use for about 12 hours after you drinking.
- Hair: When the body metabolizes alcohol, certain byproducts are absorbed into hair follicles, where they can remain for an extended period of time. It’s possible for a hair follicle analysis to detect past alcohol use for as long as 90 days (three months) after the last time you had a drink.
Can You Speed Up the Metabolization Process?
Contrary to what you may have heard or read elsewhere, there’s no way to force your body to metabolize alcohol more quickly. Drinking hot coffee, taking cold showers, or walking won’t sober you up, and they won’t get alcohol out of your body any sooner than if you simply did nothing.
Once you’ve had a drink, the only way to get all the alcohol out of your system is to stop drinking and wait. If you find it difficult or impossible to do this, even when you know you may need to take a drug test, that is a warning sign that you’ve become addicted to alcohol.
Alcohol use disorder (which is the clinical term for alcohol addiction) is a chronic, progressive disease. The cravings and other symptoms of this disorder are unlikely to go away on their own, and will probably worsen over time.
But there is some good news: Alcoholism is a treatable condition. When you get the help you need, you can quit drinking for good and begin to live a much healthier life in recovery.
Find Alcohol Addiction Treatment in Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay Recovery Center is a premier provider of customized outpatient care for adults who have become addicted to alcohol and other drugs. We also serve patients whose struggles with addiction are accompanied by anxiety, depression, and other co-occurring mental health conditions.
Treatment options at our rehab in Tampa Bay, FL, include detox, a partial hospitalization program (PHP), an intensive outpatient program (IOP), and an outpatient program. Our team will work closely with you to select the programs and services that best align with your unique needs, goals, and preferences.
To learn more about how we can help you or a loved one, or to schedule a free consultation, please visit our Admissions page or call us today.
