How Long Does Alcohol Stay in Your System?

Knowing how long alcohol remains detectable in your body is important for health, safety, and legal reasons. The time it takes for your body to process and eliminate alcohol depends on many factors. This guide explains how alcohol is metabolized, how it’s detected, and what affects these processes.

How Your Body Processes Alcohol

After you drink alcohol, it enters your bloodstream through your stomach and small intestine. Your liver does most of the work breaking it down. It uses enzymes—mainly alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)—to convert alcohol into acetaldehyde (a toxic substance), then into acetate, and finally into water and carbon dioxide that your body can safely eliminate.

What Affects How Fast You Metabolize Alcohol?

• Genetics: Your genes influence how active your ADH and ALDH enzymes are, which can speed up or slow down alcohol breakdown.
• Sex: Women typically have less ADH enzyme in their stomachs than men, so they often reach higher blood alcohol levels after drinking the same amount.
• Age: As you get older, your metabolism slows, which can delay alcohol processing.
• Body Composition: Alcohol dissolves in water, not fat. People with more muscle and less body fat may process alcohol more quickly.
• Health Status: Liver conditions like fatty liver or cirrhosis can significantly slow alcohol metabolism.
• Food Intake: Eating before or while drinking slows alcohol absorption into your bloodstream.
• Type and Amount of Alcohol: Drinks with higher alcohol content raise your blood alcohol level more quickly.

How Long Can Alcohol Be Detected?

Different tests can detect alcohol for varying lengths of time:

• Blood: Up to 12 hours. Blood tests directly measure alcohol in your bloodstream.
• Breath: Up to 24 hours. Breathalyzers estimate your blood alcohol level from your breath.
• Urine: 12–48 hours. Advanced urine tests can detect alcohol byproducts like EtG for up to 80 hours.
• Saliva: 24–48 hours. Saliva tests are easy and non-invasive.
• Hair: Up to 90 days. Hair tests show long-term drinking patterns, not recent use.

What Influences Detection Times?

• Frequency of Drinking: Regular drinkers may have alcohol metabolites in their system for longer.
• Hydration: Drinking water can help lower your BAC slightly but won’t drastically change detection windows.
• Medications: Some drugs can interfere with how your body processes alcohol.
• Physical Activity: Exercise may slightly boost metabolism and help process alcohol faster.
• Sleep: Poor sleep can slow your metabolism, keeping alcohol in your system longer.

Effects of Long-Term Drinking

Regular heavy drinking can damage your liver and reduce its ability to process alcohol and other substances. This can extend the time alcohol stays detectable in your body and increase health risks over time.

Alcohol and Your Metabolism

Alcohol affects your metabolism in several ways. It can interfere with liver function, change hormone levels, and slow down how quickly your body burns calories. Over time, this can lead to weight gain and other metabolic issues.

Conclusion

Understanding how long alcohol stays in your system—and what affects that timeline—can help you make smarter choices about drinking. Whether you're preparing for a test or focusing on your health, this knowledge is a useful tool for staying informed and in control.