Well, if the day after a noisy feast is a day off. This means that you can get a good night's sleep and move away from the consequences of drinking and drinking. But what if in the morning you need to drive or undergo a medical commission? In this case, it does not hurt to know how much alcohol is held in urine and in an organic fluid - blood. After all, the faster toxins are eliminated, the sooner you can begin to solve everyday problems.
Signs of alcohol in the body
To guess about the use of alcohol-containing substances by a person, it is not necessary to conduct special diagnostics and take laboratory tests. With a high concentration of toxins in the blood, the effect of the latter becomes so pronounced that it can be seen with the naked eye. So, alcohol, getting into the body, causes the following symptoms:
- impaired coordination of movements;
- a change in behavioral manifestations towards extremes (excessive aggressiveness and excitability or increased inhibition);
- occurrence of problems with speech, as well as memory impairment.
Those who are interested in how much alcohol is held in urine or blood need to understand that the absence of pronounced signs of intoxication does not mean that the toxins are completely eliminated. Even if it seems to you that alcohol no longer makes itself felt, laboratory diagnostics may well show the opposite.
What determines the rate of excretion of ethanol
It is impossible to name a clear period during which toxins leave the body. Under different conditions, this process will occur in different ways. There are many factors that can affect the length of stay of alcohol in a person. Therefore, in order to determine how many days alcohol is held in the organs and body fluids in a particular case, the following should be considered:
- type of alcoholic drink;
- volume of alcohol consumed;
- body mass;
- gender affiliation;
- the amount of food consumed while taking alcohol, as well as its nutritional value;
- the rate at which a drink enters the body.
Perhaps these causal factors should be clarified. As for the type of drink, it refers to its strength. The higher this indicator, the longer the toxins will “wander” around the body. It is equally important to pay attention to the amount of alcohol consumed and body weight. These factors are interrelated, since a thin person will need less alcohol than full to get drunk. How long alcohol holds in the body also depends on gender. It is known that in women this process takes about 20% longer than in men.
Food is a real salvation for the body while drinking. The higher the fat content in it, the less toxins enter the bloodstream and urine. It is also worth taking into account that the slow consumption of the drink guarantees the lowest possible alcohol content in the plasma and, as a result, its quick elimination.
3 stages of alcohol in the body
There is an opinion that ethanol quickly spreads to organs and is also quickly removed from them along with decay products. However, this is a big mistake, because even after a single drink, alcohol goes a long way, on which depends how much alcohol is held in the human body. In total, there are 3 stages that ethanol passes from the moment it enters the stomach:
- The initial stage is absorption. This stage covers the period from the moment of drinking alcohol and until it enters the bloodstream.
- The stage of isolation, during which ethanol impregnates all the waste products of the body. This includes feces, urine, saliva, sweat and even exhaled air.
- The final stage is oxidation. At this point, most of the alcohol is already excreted from the body. The remaining molecules are deposited in the organs of the nervous and reproductive systems for a long time.
How to determine the presence of ethanol in the body
There are 3 ways to test a person for drinking:
- Breathing test with a special tube. It is often used to test drivers. Traffic police officers know how much alcohol is held in exhaled air, and therefore resort to using such a diagnosis. If alcohol was consumed less than 10 hours before testing, the tube will show a positive result.
- Laboratory analysis of urine. Despite the fact that such a diagnosis is carried out in medical institutions, it does not give a reliable result. Errors are possible against the background of non-compliance by the medical personnel or patient with the rules for collecting urine, as well as its transportation.
- The study of blood composition is a method almost identical to the previous one. Only in order to find out how many days the alcohol stays in the urine, you need to collect urine, here another fluid is given for analysis. Laboratory tests include blood from a vein. The results will help to quite reliably determine the presence of ethanol in the plasma.
How long is alcohol in urine?
As mentioned earlier, analysis of the composition of urine is not a 100% reliable method for determining the presence of ethanol in it. Indeed, a huge number of factors can affect the properties of the studied fluid. Answering the question about how much alcohol is held in the urine, doctors say that the maximum length of time is 20 hours. At the same time, passing the phase of selection, toxins are found in urine in its highest concentration. By the onset of the stage of sobering up, ethanol is already partially decomposed, which reduces the likelihood of its detection in the analysis of urine.
How long do alcohol molecules stay in the blood?
Despite the fact that alcohol quickly passes the stage of absorption, it can still be found in the blood. Of course, at the same time, its concentration will be low, which will make it very difficult to obtain the correct results. How much alcohol is held in blood and urine, again, depends on the characteristics of the body. It will be difficult for someone to detect ethanol in plasma after 8-10 hours, but for someone it will not be difficult even after a day.
In any case, when passing tests to diagnose a specific disease, not a drop of alcohol should enter the blood within 48-72 hours. Even after two days, alcohol molecules can make themselves felt and greatly distort the results of the study.
Alcohol to alcohol strife
Accurate data characterizing the duration of ethanol storage in the body cannot be called, since they largely depend on the type of drink consumed. So, if you calculate how much alcohol is kept in the urine after beer, then you can get the following results: with a body weight of 50 kg, toxins will be released for about 3.5 hours, and with a weight of 80 kg - a little more than two hours.
Wine lingers in the body a little longer, since its strength is higher. With the same person weighing 50 kg, the process of eliminating ethanol will take about 5 hours, provided that he drinks one glass of the drink. Well, if the body weight is at the level of 80 kg or more, then 3-3.5 hours will be enough.
The most persistent effect is observed from the use of spirits. These include: vodka, gin, cognac, whiskey, etc. How much alcohol is held in urine, blood and exhaled air when consumed also depends on body weight. If a person weighing 50 kg enters the stomach, a dose of 100 ml of any of these drinks will take about 8 hours for ethanol to be excreted. For a body weight of 80-100 kg, this number is significantly reduced. Under such conditions, the body gets rid of alcohol in 3-5 hours.
How to speed up the process of removing alcohol
If it is necessary to reduce the time required to cleanse plasma of toxins, you can use a few tips:
- Take a warm shower. You can’t say exactly how much alcohol is held in a person’s urine when using this method, but it will significantly accelerate the metabolic process.
- Cleanse your stomach of toxins with activated charcoal.
- Give your body a little exercise, such as a long walk.
- Drink plenty of water and diuretics (it is better to refuse tea and coffee - they give the opposite effect).
- Charge your body with a dose of vitamin C. For this purpose, the use of citrus fruits is ideal.
Note to drivers: when you can get behind the wheel again
If you do not know how much alcohol is held in exhaled air, then you can get into a very unpleasant situation with traffic police officers. After all, peppermint candies or chewing gum are unlikely to help fool a test device. Therefore, it is advisable not to drink alcohol in the evening, if in the morning you need to act as a driver. Well, in order to find out the exact time for which there will be no trace of toxins, it is better to use special reference tables. They provide data on the results of the ratio of the main parameters (body weight, type of alcoholic beverage, its volume, strength, etc.).
Most of the accidents on the roads are the result of a negligent attitude of drivers to the rules that should be followed while on the road. Therefore, it is very important to understand at least approximately how long alcohol holds in urine, blood and other components of the body. But even if you’ve never driven a car in your life, this knowledge will not be superfluous.