How long does alcohol last in the body?

Knowing how long alcohol levels last in the body is very important to prevent dangerous interactions with the drugs you are about to take. Especially if you want to carry out a medical test. The body must be ready, clean from alcohol content. It is also important so that you can guess when you will be able to drive a vehicle or operate machinery after drinking a drink that contains alcohol.

So, pay attention to the last time you drank alcohol and how long the alcohol content will last in your body.

How long can the alcohol level be detected in the body?

How long the alcohol content lasts in the body depends on what type of test is being performed. The following is an estimate of the time span until when alcohol can be detected with each test:

In my breath

Alcohol can be detected in the breath through the breathlyzer test for up to 24 hours after drinking alcohol.

In urine

Alcohol can be detected in the urine for 3- 5 days through a metabolite ethyl gluconoride (EGT) test. Meanwhile, through the traditional way, alcohol levels will still be detected in urine up to 10-12 hours after you drink.

In the bloodstream

Alcohol can be detected in a blood test up to 12 hours after drinking alcohol. In general, laboratory tests are required to determine the level of alcohol in the blood.

However, to make it easier, you can estimate your blood alcohol level by checking your blood alcohol level at Hello Sehat, or you can click on this link by doing a blood test

In saliva

In a saliva test, alcohol levels can still be detected positively for the next 1-5 days.

In the hair

Yes, alcohol can still be detected in the body during a hair follicle drug test for up to 90 days after you drink alcohol.

How is alcoholic beverage absorbed in the body?

When you consume alcoholic drinks, the alcohol will first enter the digestive system. However, alcohol is not digested like other foods and drinks. About 20 percent of the alcohol from a glass of your drink goes straight into your veins. From the blood vessels directly carried to the brain. While the remaining 80 percent enters the small intestine, then only then enters the bloodstream.

When alcohol enters the bloodstream, the body starts processing it at a rate of 20 mg / dL per hour. That means if your blood alcohol level is 40 mg / dL, it will take about two hours to break down and process the alcohol.

The body tends to absorb alcohol more easily than it excretes alcohol. The body can only excrete or cleanse an alcohol content of 0.016 percent every hour.

For example, a person who weighs 68 kg drinks a glass of alcohol. The person will experience an increase in blood alcohol levels of about 0.02 percent but their body can only excrete 0.016 percent of alcohol every hour. Therefore, if you drink more than one glass per hour, the concentration of alcohol in the blood (blood alcohol concentration) You will continue to improve rapidly.

How does the body excrete alcohol?

The last stage, the alcohol in the body will be flushed out through a filtering process carried out by the liver. If there is a disturbance in your liver, the alcohol cleansing process will be slowed down or interrupted. This metabolic rate will also be influenced by the size of your liver and how healthy your liver is.

The body processes alcohol by oxidizing ethanol from acetaldehyde compounds to acetic acid, then acetic acid is converted into carbon dioxide and water. About 5 percent of the alcohol you drink will be excreted by the body through sweat, breath, urine, feces, and saliva.

What affects the body's ability to digest alcohol?

How long alcohol is digested in each person's body actually varies. This all depends on several factors such as health conditions. More specifically, here are the factors that affect how quickly the body processes alcohol.

• Gender. In a study by a team of experts from John Hopkins University, women digest alcohol faster than men.
• Fat mass in the body.
• Age. Children's digestive systems are still in a developmental stage, so they can't digest alcohol as well as adults.
• How much alcohol do you drink.
• Fat content from previous foods you ate.
• Certain drugs that are consumed.
• How fast do you drink the alcohol.