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Articles » BAC » Can You Lower Your Blood Alcohol Count?

Can You Lower Your Blood Alcohol Count?

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By StraightDUI Staff on 3/10/2008

In many cases it has been reported that lowering the Blood Alcohol Count (BAC) is possible, but is that really so? Before giving any thought as to whether you can lower the BAC, let me explain what determines the Blood Alcohol Level. Basically, the BAC represents the percent of blood that is concentrated with alcohol. In other words, .10 means that 1% of your bloodstream is comprised of alcohol. Once a driver has reached the illegal BAC limit, their risk of being involved in a fatal car accident increases approximately 48 times when compared to someone who was not drinking. Currently, in most states, the illegal BAC limit is set at .08.

The Percentages of BAC in the Blood Stream

When alcohol gets into the blood stream it does different things to different people. For example, a driver’s ability to divide attention between two or more sources of visual information can be impaired by Blood Alcohol Content (BAC’s) of 0.02 percent or lower. However, impairments usually occur once an individual’s BAC level reaches .05 percent or higher. When the percentage of alcohol in the blood stream is at .02, this is usually when the light to moderate drinker will start to feel some affects. At .04 most people begin to feel relaxed. At .06 the drinking person’s judgment is somewhat impaired. At .08 there is a definite impairment of muscle coordination that impacts on driving skills. In most states this is the legal intoxication level. At .10 there is a clear deterioration of reaction time and control. At this level the driver is considered legally drunk in all states. At .10 and above, vomiting usually occurs, balance and movement are impaired, some may begin to experience blackouts, and some even lose consciousness. At 0.40 and above, some people lose consciousness and may die. At 0.45, breathing stops and is in all likelihood a fatal dose for most people.

Can Anything Lower BAC?

For the majority of people, having one drink an hour will maintain the good feeling they were seeking, but since alcohol is a depressant, once reaching the .05 or .06 level, most people begin to feel the negative effects of alcohol. Since most people who drink are doing so usually to achieve good feelings, as the BAC level increases, the good feelings rise as well. But once you go beyond a certain BAC level, say at .05 or .06, the good effects of alcohol are not so good anymore. But is there anything that can lower BAC? In all truthfulness, drinking coffee, taking a cold shower and running around the block will do very little as far as lowering blood alcohol levels. Plain and simple, you can’t exercise BAC away or cry it out from the system. Only a very small amount of alcohol is eliminated through tears or perspiration. The more you drink, the higher the BAC. The more impaired, the higher the risk of an accident. Overall, it will take about six hours to return to a BAC of 0.0, as there is nothing you can do that speeds up the elimination of alcohol from the blood stream.

What Affects the BAC?

Because various types of drinks have different strengths, some people’s BAC’s are affected in a different way. For example, when food is eaten while drinking, it will result in a lower and delayed BAC primarily because the alcohol gets into the bloodstream at a lower rate when food is consumed. Fat contains very little water, so it allows more alcohol to enter the blood stream. In other words, a person with a lower percentage of body fat will have a lower BAC. People who are muscular also tend to achieve lower BACs. And when a man or woman who are of the same weight take into the same amount of alcohol, women tend to have a higher BAC because women have a higher percentage of fat and lower body water. Other things that affect BAC could be drinking when a person is tired. It can also lead to higher BAC because the liver doesn’t function as well when the person is tired. Dehydration also causes higher intoxication.

Drinking and Driving

Only time lowers the BAC. In fact, your blood alcohol count could continue to rise, even after you have stopped drinking. The reason? Your body can only eliminate alcohol at a rate of about .015 percent an hour. If you have had several drinks in a short amount of time, and even if you have stopped drinking, your BAC could actually rise significantly, which is why it’s so important to allow sufficient time for your body to eliminate the alcohol in your system. And in truth, if you’re considering alcohol and driving, remember they don’t mix and should never be performed together.

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