How alcohol stays in body

WHETHER it is safe to drive the morning after drinking depends on how much alcohol the body has to get rid of and how long it has had to do so.

The body can process about one unit of alcohol – the equivalent of half a pint of lager – an hour. In general a driver is put over the limit by two pints of lager or two small glasses of wine, but this can vary widely depending on sex, age, weight and physical wellbeing.

Dr Paul Wallace, chief medical adviser of charity Drinkaware, said: ‘Imagine you’re drinking until three or four in the morning and you wake up at 8am.

‘If you’ve had six or seven units, you could still have several units of alcohol in your body when you start your day.

‘With several units of alcohol still in your body you would still be over the drink drive limit.

‘Having a cup of coffee or a cold shower won’t do anything at all to get rid of the alcohol.

‘They may make you feel slightly different, but they haven’t eliminated the alcohol in any way.’

If the body processes one unit of alcohol per hour, someone who finishes drinking at 3am and starts driving at 11am would typically have processed eight units of alcohol. If they drank six 1 5ml glasses of wine, this is about 14 units, meaning that the average driver would still have six units of alcohol in their system.