There is no way to stop being drunk faster than your body naturally allows. Your liver processes alcohol at a fixed rate of about one standard drink per hour, and nothing you do can speed that up. No food, no coffee, no cold shower, no supplement will lower your blood alcohol level any faster. Time is the only thing that actually sobers you up.
That said, there’s plenty you can do to feel better while you wait, stay safe, and avoid making the situation worse.
Why Nothing “Sobers You Up”
Your liver breaks down alcohol using a specific enzyme, and that enzyme works at a set pace regardless of what else you put in your body. The average person clears between .015 and .020 of their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) per hour. To put that in practical terms: if you’re at .08 (the legal driving limit in most U.S. states), it will take roughly 4 to 5 hours to reach zero.
Once alcohol is in your bloodstream, only three things remove it: that liver enzyme, trace amounts leaving through your breath, and trace amounts leaving through sweat and urine. Drinking water, sleeping, exercising, or eating food after you’re already drunk will not accelerate the process. The alcohol is already circulating, and your liver will handle it on its own schedule.
Coffee, Cold Showers, and Other Myths
Caffeine is the most persistent myth. Coffee or energy drinks can make you feel more alert, but they do not reduce the effects of alcohol on your body. The CDC is clear on this: caffeine mixed with alcohol simply creates a person who feels awake while still being impaired. Your coordination, reaction time, and judgment remain compromised. This is actually more dangerous than feeling tired, because you’re more likely to overestimate your ability to drive or make good decisions.
Cold showers work the same way. The shock of cold water triggers a burst of adrenaline that can make you feel temporarily sharper, but your BAC doesn’t budge. Exercise doesn’t help either. While you do lose a tiny amount of alcohol through sweat, the amount is negligible and won’t meaningfully change how drunk you are. Fresh air falls into the same category: it might feel refreshing, but it has zero effect on how quickly your body processes alcohol.
What You Can Actually Do Right Now
While you can’t speed up sobriety, you can manage how you feel and protect yourself during the wait.
- Stop drinking. This sounds obvious, but every additional drink resets the clock. Your liver is already working at full capacity on what’s in your system.
- Drink water. It won’t sober you up, but alcohol is a diuretic that pulls water from your body. Rehydrating helps with headache, nausea, and the hangover that’s coming. Alternate sips of water between any remaining drinks if you’re still at a social event.
- Eat something. Food won’t lower your BAC, but it can settle your stomach. Eating slows the absorption of any alcohol still being digested, which means your BAC may not climb as high as it otherwise would. Solid foods work better than liquids for this purpose, and meals with more calories slow absorption more effectively.
- Rest somewhere safe. Sleep doesn’t metabolize alcohol faster, but it does pass the time your body needs. Lie on your side rather than your back in case you vomit.
- Don’t drive. Even if you feel fine, your BAC may still be above the legal limit hours after your last drink. If you had 5 drinks over the course of an evening, you could still be impaired 6 or 7 hours later.
Roughly How Long It Takes
Use the one-drink-per-hour rule as a baseline. A “standard drink” is 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor. Here’s a rough guide to when you’d reach a BAC of zero after your last drink, assuming average body weight and metabolism:
- 3 standard drinks: about 3 to 4 hours
- 5 standard drinks: about 5 to 7 hours
- 8 standard drinks: about 8 to 11 hours
- 10+ standard drinks: 10 hours or more
These timelines vary based on your weight, biological sex, how fast you drank, and whether you ate beforehand. Drinking on an empty stomach sends alcohol into your bloodstream significantly faster than drinking with a solid meal, which delays how quickly your stomach empties its contents. That’s why the same number of drinks can hit much harder if you skipped dinner.
What About Supplements and “Sober Up” Products
Products marketed as hangover cures or sobriety aids are everywhere. One ingredient that gets a lot of attention is dihydromyricetin (DHM), a compound extracted from a plant used in traditional medicine. Despite the buzz, there are no published clinical trials showing it reduces blood alcohol levels or reverses intoxication in humans. A Phase 1 study is testing its safety and dosing, but no results are available yet. For now, no over-the-counter supplement has been proven to make you sober up faster.
Helping Someone Else Who’s Drunk
If you’re looking after someone who has had too much to drink, the most important thing is keeping them safe while their body does the work. Get them to stop drinking, give them water, and stay with them. If they want to lie down, place them on their side in what’s called the recovery position: extend the arm closest to the ground out at a right angle, tuck their other hand under their cheek, and bend their top knee to keep them stable. This keeps their airway open so they won’t choke if they vomit.
Stay with them and check on their breathing. Alcohol poisoning is a medical emergency, and it can develop after someone stops drinking as alcohol continues absorbing from the stomach. Call emergency services if you notice any of these signs: breathing that drops below eight breaths per minute, gaps of more than 10 seconds between breaths, skin that feels cold or looks bluish, or if the person can’t be woken up. Low body temperature from heavy drinking can, in severe cases, lead to cardiac arrest.
Preventing It Next Time
Since you can’t reverse drunkenness once it starts, the only real control you have is on the front end. Eating a solid meal before drinking slows absorption considerably. Pacing yourself to one drink per hour gives your liver a chance to keep up. Alternating alcoholic drinks with water reduces total intake and keeps you hydrated.
Choosing lower-alcohol beverages also makes a difference. Beer, for example, has more total calories than wine or spirits (due to its carbohydrate content), and those extra calories can slow gastric emptying slightly. But the biggest factor is simply volume: fewer drinks means a lower peak BAC, a shorter wait to sober up, and a milder morning after.