How to drink without getting drunk: 12 simple tips

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Use physiological and psychological life hacks to stay on your feet when everyone else is out.

What to do before drinking

1. Relax

Do not drink after workouts or other physical activity: in this case, alcohol will slow down How Bad Is It Really to Drink Alcohol After Exercise muscle recovery and put excessive stress on the cardiovascular and nervous systems. For the body, alcohol is poison. If you have already decided to indulge in dangerous drinks, do it when you are full of energy.

2. Have a good meal

Your task is not to drink Alcohol Poisoning on an empty stomach. Food in the stomach will slow down the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, which means that the intoxication will be gradual. The emphasis should be on The 15 Best Foods to Eat Before Drinking Alcohol on protein (eg, chicken eggs, Greek yogurt) foods, bananas, oatmeal, fatty fish, Hangover cures pasta or rice.

But keep in mind that this trick also has a downside: as soon as the food protective layer in the stomach disappears, the previously drunk will hit the head instantly and unexpectedly.

3. Take a few activated charcoal tablets

It lingers in the stomach and absorbs and then removes some of the alcohol from the body, preventing it from entering the bloodstream. At least that's how it looks in theory. And in the experiment Does alcohol absorb to activated charcoal? with dogs: in dogs that were offered activated charcoal along with a drink, the concentration of alcohol in the blood was significantly lower than in animals that received only alcohol.

In humans, this adsorbing effect of activated carbon has not been scientifically confirmed. Activated charcoal in oral ethanol absorption: lack of effect in humans. However, I Learned What I Expected - Testing Trendy Activated Charcoal Remedies, it seems to enthusiasts testing these tablets for themselves, that the tool still helps.

What to do when you drink

1. Don't forget to eat

While you are drinking, food still slows down the absorption of alcohol by the body. Just do not overeat, so as not to increase the load on the stomach and liver.

2. Avoid salty snacks

Chips, smoked meats, salted nuts make you thirsty Top 7 tips for safe drinking, and you will unknowingly quench it with alcohol. This means that you are more likely to overdo it.

3. Do not mix different types of alcohol

It is optimal to choose one familiar drink that you will drink throughout the evening. And the point is not that mixing different types of alcohol accelerates intoxication - this is a myth. It's just that the drinks you started with set the pace.

Traditionally, people start with "weak" alcohol. Then, moving on to a stronger drink, they maintain the same rate of consumption. This leads to severe intoxication with all the consequences.

4. Do not drink alcohol with energy drinks

Caffeine and other tonic substances have Energy drink consumption in Europe: a review of the risks, adverse health effects, and policy options to respond to a stimulatory effect on the nervous system. Alcohol is depressing. Taken together, such a cocktail temporarily masks the real degree of intoxication, so the person drinks more than they should. But at some point, the concentration of alcohol in the blood turns out to be so high that the power engineers are no longer able to disguise it.

5. Drink water

Alcohol leads to fluid loss - for a number of reasons. First, it suppresses the 7 steps to cure your hangover the production of vasopressin, a hormone that, among other things, limits the excretion of moisture from the body in the urine. This means that, when drunk, you will run to the toilet much more often than usual. Secondly, intoxication can be accompanied by diarrhea, sweating, vomiting, which also leads to dehydration. And it, in turn, aggravates the symptoms of intoxication.

Doctors Recommend Alcohol Poisoning Prevention | Cleveland Clinic Drink water after every alcoholic cocktail.

6. Take your time

If you are a man and drink more than five servings of alcohol in 2 hours, you will almost inevitably experience Alcohol Poisoning. With all the accompanying special effects, including a quick arrival in a completely uncontrollable state. Women need even less to get poisoned - four servings in a couple of hours.

At the same time, the concept of a portion is very clearly established. Specialists from the American medical organization Mayo Clinic define Alcohol Poisoning as:

• 355 ml of regular beer with a strength of about 5%;
• 237-266 ml malt liqueur, about 7% ABV;
• 148 ml of wine with a strength of about 12%;
• 44 ml of alcohol with a strength of 40%.

To avoid getting drunk quickly, stretch the pleasure over time. It is best to drink no more than one serving per day. Maximum two if you are a healthy man under 65 years old. But if for some reason you cannot limit yourself to this conditionally healthy dose, drink at least one serving of alcohol per hour.

7. Dilute alcohol

This method has been known since the days of the ancient Greeks, who adored wine, but did not respect those who quickly got drunk. Strong alcohol diluted with water or juice can be sipped almost all evening, without exceeding a safe dose of alcohol and remaining in a sober mind and memory.

8. Know how to stop in time

In the Russian Federation, the Code on Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation is considered the permissible content of alcohol in blood. Article 12.8. Driving a vehicle by a driver in a state of intoxication, transferring control of a vehicle to a person in a state of intoxication 0.3 ppm (that is, no more than 0.3 g of alcohol per liter). This is the upper limit of the norm for drivers. However, other citizens should also take it carefully: this number means that you are already in bad control of yourself.

You can predict how much ppm has already accumulated in your blood based on indirect symptoms. For example, how Stanford University experts describe What Is BAC? different degrees of intoxication (in the USA it is customary to measure them by how many grams of ethanol are contained in 100 ml of blood; for convenience, we have converted the numbers into the usual ppm - grams of alcohol per liter of blood).

• 0, 1–0, 3 ppm - the mood slightly rises.
• 0, 4–0, 6 - there is a feeling of relaxation, lightness. And also the speed of reaction, thinking, memory deteriorate slightly.
• 0, 7–0, 9 - the balance is slightly disturbed, speech and vision become a little less clear than usual, the reaction speed decreases. However, the drinker is still sure that he feels great.
• 1–1, 2 - the tongue begins to get tangled, speech becomes slurred. The coordination of movement is disturbed, the person loses judgment.
• 1, 3–1, 5 - doubles and fogs in the eyes. There are gross violations of motor control: it is difficult for a drunk to maintain balance.
• 1, 6–2, 0 - the mood is rapidly deteriorating, aggression towards strangers and yourself easily arises. Nausea may appear. The movements are clearly awkward, it is difficult for a drunk to take something in his hand or even walk through the doorway.
• more than 2 - severe intoxication, sometimes accompanied by vomiting. Consciousness is confused. A person is not able to move independently.
• more than 3, 5 - loss of consciousness is possible.
• more than 4 - coma onset. There is a high probability of death due to respiratory arrest.

It is worth stopping drinking at the initial stage of intoxication, similar to 0.1 ppm. Please note that at this point, not all of the alcohol that has entered your stomach has been absorbed into the bloodstream, that is, the number of ppm will increase in the near future.

9. Learn to say no

The easiest and at the same time the most difficult way is to definitely give up an extra portion of alcohol. If you doubt that you can resist the persuasion to drink one more, use a simple life hack: pour water or juice into a glass. This will give you the opportunity to continue to clink glasses with your friends and at the same time not pour alcohol into yourself.

This material was first published in December 2018. In December 2020, we updated the text.