Do you know how does alcohol behave inside the body?
An alcoholic beverage present inside the body can be detected during the time period of 90 days after your last consumption, but it depends on various factors. Factors such as:
- Gender
- Age
- Height
- Weight
- Rate of consumption.
- Metabolic rate.
- Type of food presents in your stomach before drinking.
- Type of food you have eaten while drinking.
- How much food you have eaten while drinking.
- Amount of alcoholic content presents in that beverage.
- Type of medicines you have taken or you was prescribed already.
After eating food items the body starts digesting it, in the same way, the body tries to digest this alcohol, some amount of alcohol gets digested and some amount gets metabolized while some content excretes out as a by-product through exhaling, sweating and urination.
The human liver can metabolize up to one ounce of alcohol per hour but if it exceeds then blood will start to absorb this extra alcoholic content and the blood alcohol concentration/content (BAC) will increase. This increase in BAC can be detected by using some testing methods like breathalyzers. BAC is the percentage of alcohol in the blood which enters in the bloodstream due to excessive intake of alcohol.
What does alcoholic beverage contain?
An alcoholic beverage is a drink which contains ethanol or ethyl alcohol (widely called as alcohol). It is a type of psychoactive drug, means its intake will result in changing of one’s mood and consciousness.
Males and Females have different body structure, shape and size; it also varies regarding their metabolic rate and how fast their immune system works. A healthy person can metabolize quickly while an unhealthy person needs more time to complete his/her metabolism. A sufficient level of drinking can be handled easily but when alcohol is taken in an excess human consciousness is no longer stable and any person behavior can become intolerable to other.
Testing of alcoholic content present in the body:
As you already get to know, during 90 days period, alcoholic content can be checked or tested after consumptions, so there are few methods by which it is tested. Interestingly, hair strand is also being used to determine the alcoholic content present inside the body; a hair follicle test is being done for that. These are some techniques which are often used to detect the alcohol level inside the system:
- Urine Alcohol Test.
- Hair Follicle Alcohol Test.
- Peth Alcohol Test.
- Breath Alcohol Test or Breathalyzers.
- Urine Alcohol Test:
In this process, human urine is taken as a sample, and it is being tested when the person has consumed the alcohol in the very recent past (within 24 – 48 hours).
Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG) Urine Alcohol Test is a process in which ethyl glucuronide can be detected in the urine as long as 3 to 4 days after consumption, which also helps to detect the alcohol (ethanol) content present in the urine.
- Hair Follicle Alcohol Test:
This method is a forensic toxicology test, and this helps in the detection of alcohol for long 90 days after its intake. Hair Follicle Alcohol Test is a new method for determination and it is widely used because of its long look-back period (90 days).
If someone does not have enough hair on his head, then body hair can be used. About 60 – 100 strands of hairs are cut for this test.
- Peth Alcohol Test:
This method is used for testing of binge drinking which can look-back up to 3 weeks after consumption because some content remains in the blood stream during this period in the form of phosphatidylethanol, so for this blood tests are performed.
- Breathalyzers:
Breath Alcohol Test is also called as Breathalyzer, which measures presence of alcohol in person’s breath. It is a much faster process than a blood test for determination, and is equally accurate.
How does alcohol stay affect the system?
When a person intakes alcohol in a large amount regularly, it starts hamper his/her entire system slowly. Alcohol intake can decrease the strength, metabolism activity, ability of the body to burn fats and increases the instability of the whole immune system. It slowly starts damaging the body organs like liver, kidney and ultimately it will damage the nervous system of the body.
The working ability of a person is severely hampered because the strength has already been reduced. The flexibility of mind is no more conscious, and unconscious mind cannot take decisions. Some of the problems cannot be spotted until it becomes that much severe like internal bleeding, this means alcohol stay can damage the physical and mental abilities too.
There are some short-term effects of alcohol which can sometimes ruin your character, like:
- Inability to maintain your balance.
- Unconscious mind.
- Rotational mood or emotions.
- Vomiting
- Hang-over.
- Confusion
There are some long-term effects of alcohol stay which can take your life also:
- Liver failure.
- Kidney failure.
- Damage to nervous system.
- Cancer
How to lower the alcohol level in the body?
As you come to know how long alcohol can stay in the body, are you able to reduce the degree of this content to be present inside the body?
Actually, there is no such rule or law by which a person can reduce this level, but a simple habit and a routine drinking can help very effectively and efficiently. All these steps can help to maintain the level of BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) much lower inside the body. A person:
- Can drink non-alcoholic beverages in between alcoholic beverages.
- Never drink on empty stomach.
- Try to take some foods like meat during drinking to reduce concentration.
- Avoid excessive drinking.
- Take small glass of drink at a time.
Sometimes you may go to a party and coincidentally meet with one of your old friend, and accepts a bet for drinking alcohol, which initially is very enjoyable but later on, this excessive drinking can make you and your friend unconscious, feel dizziness or sometimes vomiting.
To have a friend in every corner is good, but to hamper each other’s health will never make any sense. Everything has its own advantages and disadvantages. Always avoid over eating and over drinking to have a joyful life with your family and friends.
