Your liver breaks down roughly one standard drink per hour. But depending on how you're tested, traces of alcohol can be detected for much longer.
If you're reading this, there is likely a specific reason. You may be wondering if you’re safe to drive this morning, whether last night’s drinks will be detected in a workplace screening, or possibly whether your drinking is becoming a problem.
Whatever brought you here, the answer depends on how your body handles alcohol and what kind of test you're facing.
Alcohol doesn't get digested in the same way as food. It passes straight through your stomach lining and small intestine into your bloodstream, sometimes within a few minutes of your first sip.
From there, it travels to your brain and other organs while your liver works to break it down. Your liver uses an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase to convert alcohol into acetaldehyde, then into acetate, and finally into carbon dioxide and water that your body can eliminate.
The key number: Your liver clears alcohol at roughly 0.015% blood alcohol concentration per hour. That works out to about one standard drink every sixty minutes.
Your liver doesn't speed up just because you've had more to drink. If you're consuming faster than your liver can process, the excess alcohol simply accumulates in your bloodstream.
Around 90-95% of alcohol leaves through liver metabolism. The rest exits through your breath, sweat, and urine, and that’s what the tests pick up.
| Test Type | What It Measures | Typical Detection Window | Common Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breath | Alcohol concentration in exhaled air | 12–24 hours | Traffic stops, roadside sobriety checks |
| Blood | Direct blood alcohol concentration (BAC) | 6–12 hours | Law enforcement confirmation, medical testing |
| Saliva | Alcohol traces in oral fluid | 12–24 hours | Roadside or workplace screening |
| Urine (standard) | Unmetabolized alcohol | 12–24 hours | General drug and alcohol testing |
| Urine (EtG) | Ethyl glucuronide (alcohol metabolite) | 72–80 hours | Workplace testing, probation monitoring |
| Hair follicle | Long-term alcohol use patterns | Up to 90 days | Long-term substance use history |
Everyone processes alcohol a bit differently, depending on personal factors:
Muscle tissue holds more water than fat. If you’re leaner, alcohol gets diluted more effectively. More body fat means higher concentrations in your blood from the same number of drinks.
A meal in your stomach keeps alcohol from rushing into your small intestine, where most absorption happens. Drinking on an empty stomach means faster alcohol absorption into your bloodstream and stronger effects.
As you get older, your metabolism slows, and your body composition shifts, leading to longer processing times. Women also tend to process alcohol more slowly due to differences in the female body.
Someone who drinks heavily and regularly may develop some metabolic tolerance, but their liver also takes more cumulative damage.
Different tests have different windows, and this is usually what people want to know most urgently.
The breath tests used in police traffic stops can detect alcohol for 12 to 24 hours after your last drink. In Ohio, the legal limit is 0.08% blood alcohol concentration for drivers aged 21 and over, but if you're under 21, Ohio has a near-zero-tolerance policy at 0.02%.
That is why getting behind the wheel the morning after can still land you an OVI charge if your body hasn't had enough time to process everything you drank.
Blood tests pick up alcohol for roughly 6 to 12 hours after consumption. These are often used when police want laboratory confirmation of a breathalyzer result.
Standard urine tests can find alcohol for 12 to 24 hours, but more advanced EtG (ethyl glucuronide) tests detect a metabolite that can remain in your urine for 72 to 80 hours after drinking. These are common in workplace screenings and probation monitoring.
Saliva tests work for about 12 to 24 hours, while hair follicle testing can reveal patterns of alcohol use stretching back 90 days.
People try all kinds of tactics to sober up faster, but your liver operates on its own schedule.
Caffeine may help you feel more alert, but it doesn't change your blood alcohol concentration or make your liver work any faster. You will just be a more awake version of intoxicated.
Cold showers have the same problem. They may jolt you into feeling sharper, but the alcohol is still circulating through your system at the same rate.
Sweating it out through exercise doesn't work either. Your liver metabolizes the vast majority of alcohol, not your sweat glands. Exercising while drunk can actually be dangerous because you're more prone to dehydration and injury.
Having another drink the morning after might temporarily mask how rough you feel, but it does nothing to clear what's already in your system. All you're doing is giving your liver additional work while postponing the hangover until later.
For most people, occasional drinking doesn't cause any significant complications when they stop. But if you have been drinking heavily for an extended period, stopping suddenly can be very dangerous.
Alcohol withdrawal symptoms usually begin within just a few short hours of your last drink. While early signs can feel manageable at first, if you are physically dependent on alcohol, they can escalate very quickly.
Some people even experience hallucinations or seizures, and in the most severe cases, develop a condition called delirium tremens (DT). This can cause:
DT usually emerges between two and three days after the last drink and can be life-threatening without proper care.
That's where medical detox comes in. Trying to quit cold turkey after prolonged heavy drinking carries real risks. A supervised alcohol detox program can monitor your symptoms, provide medication to manage withdrawal safely, and make sure you're medically stable before moving on to alcohol rehab therapy.
At Armada Recovery in Dayton and Akron, our medical team supports people through this process every day. If your drinking has reached the point where you're worried about what happens when you stop, professional help can be the safest path forward.
We're here when you're ready to talk.
Cederbaum AI. Alcohol metabolism. Clinics in Liver Disease. 2012;16(4):667-685. doi:10.1016/j.cld.2012.08.002
MedlinePlus. Blood Alcohol Level. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://medlineplus.gov/lab-tests/blood-alcohol-level/
Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.19. Operating vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs - OVI. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4511.19
Cleveland Clinic. Alcohol Withdrawal: Symptoms, Treatment & Timeline. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/alcohol-withdrawal
Jesse S, Bråthen G, Ferrara M, et al. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome: mechanisms, manifestations, and management. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. 2017;135(1):4-16. doi:10.1111/ane.12671
| Can coffee sober me up faster? | No. Caffeine may make you feel more alert, but it does not reduce your blood alcohol level. |
| Can I drive the morning after drinking? | Possibly not. Alcohol can remain detectable for 12–24 hours, depending on how much you drank and how your body processes it. |
| How long does alcohol stay in urine? | Standard urine tests detect alcohol for about 12–24 hours, while EtG tests can detect it for up to 80 hours. |
| Does exercise help clear alcohol? | No. Your liver does almost all alcohol metabolism. Exercising while intoxicated can increase injury risk. |
| When is medical detox necessary? | If you have been drinking heavily for a long time, stopping suddenly can cause dangerous withdrawal symptoms and should be medically supervised. |