Sobering up

The only way to sober up is to give your body time to process the alcohol consumed. About 91 percent of alcohol is removed from the body by blood passing through the liver. The rest is removed through breath, urine and perspiration.

It takes a healthy liver approximately one hour to process three-quarters of a standard drink. This may vary according to your size, gender and general health. A standard drink is one that contains approximately 10 grams of pure alcohol. This can be found in a pot of full strength beer, 100ml of wine or a shot of spirits.

This means:

• If a person drinks 10 pots of beer, it will take at least 10 hours for the alcohol to leave their system
• If they drink 2 glasses of wine (200ml), it will be at least 2 hours before the alcohol leaves their system

Despite anything you may have heard before, the following activities have no effect in reducing the level of alcohol in a person's body:

• Drinking coffee
• Exercise
• Taking a shower
• Going for a swim
• Sleeping
• Drinking the 'Hair of the Dog'

In fact, your blood alcohol level can continue to rise 3 hours after your last drink. Your body simply needs time to recover.

Remember that anyone driving under a Learner or Provisional (red P1 and green P2) licence is required to have a blood alcohol concentration of ZERO. If you are a learner, the fully licensed person sitting next to you, supervising your driving, must also have a blood alcohol concentration of ZERO.

Every booze bus is now also a drugs bus, meaning that you can be stopped for a random breath test and also be given a drug test.

Useful links

DrugInfo - Safe Partying
Links to a heap of resources and info to help you to have fun in a safe, legal and responsible way.