Your blood alcohol concentration does not start dropping as soon as you stop drinking. For instance, if you have one last shot at the end of the night when you are out with friends, your BAC is actually going to climb for a bit as your body absorbs the alcohol.
But after that rise, if you have truly stopped drinking, your BAC will start going down. It is important to know how fast this happens because you may want to wait before you do something like driving a motor vehicle. After all, if you are pulled over with a BAC that is over the legal limit—typically 0.08%—then you could be convicted on DUI charges. So how fast is your BAC going to decline, and when will you be back under the limit?
You cannot speed the process up
Typically, there is a rate of alcohol metabolism that is consistent from one person to the next. Research has found that your BAC tends to go down by about 0.015% every hour.
The first thing you may notice is that this is a very slow rate of decline. If you have had a few drinks and your BAC is just at 0.06%, for example, it would still take you four hours to get back down to zero.
Some people look for different ways to speed this up, such as drinking coffee or eating a meal. But there is nothing you can do to change the rate at which your body metabolizes the alcohol. Coffee may wake you up, and food can help to settle your stomach, but neither one actually sobers you up or reduces your BAC to help you avoid DUI charges.
Your legal defense options
If you are facing criminal charges, they could come with a license suspension, fines and fees and even the potential for jail time. It is important to understand all of your legal defense options.