| Myth #1: DRINK COFFEE TO SOBER UP The movies love to show a good-hearted friend sobering up a drunken protagonist with a pot of coffee. The truth is coffee has no effect on BAC. The caffeine will act on the nervous system as it would regardless of sobriety and may cause a short-term rise in alertness. Feed a drunk a pot of coffee and all you get is a drunk buzzing on coffee. |
| Myth #2: COLD SHOWERS The liver is going to process alcohol at the same rate regardless of whether you are warm and dry or cold and wet. Give a drunk a cold shower and all you have is a cold wet drunk. |
| Myth #3: EXERCISE Since sweating and breathing do eliminate some alcohol, it makes sense that exercise will help sober up an individual. The reality is that very little alcohol is released from the blood stream in this way. Since an intoxicated individual is suffering from the impact of alcohol on the body -- blurred vision, slurred speech, loss of motor control causing stumbling -- a drunk stands a better chance of falling down or otherwise getting hurt through exercise than of eliminating any meaningful amount of alcohol. Run a drunk around and all you get is a tired drunk. |