Sobering Up

An evening of heavy drinking follows you right into the next day. Let's take a look at the time line for Jamie, a female UNL student who drank 12 beers in 4 hours. How long do you think it will take for her BAC to return to .00 from the time she stopped drinking?

Twelve beers in 4 hours gives Jamie a BAC of .368. If Jamie survived the night and miraculously went to class 12 hours later, her BAC in class would be about .188, over twice the legal limit.

During the next day, as Jamie's body metabolizes the alcohol, she doesn't feel intoxicated, although she is legally drunk. Alcohol leaves your system at the rate of .015 % per hour (less than one drink an hour). Coffee, showers, food and exercise will have no effect on the time it takes to 'sober up'.

At 6pm the next day, 18 hours after stopping, if she was pulled over while driving to dinner, she would blow a .098 and get a DUI!

24 hours later, Jamie would finally have all the alcohol out of her body.