How can people instantly
go from drunk to sober in
a serious/scary situation?
If you’ve ever witnessed the cops suddenly bust into
an underage party after you’ve been getting your drink
on, you might’ve noticed yourself and fellow drunkies
go from sauced to sober instantaneously. Or so you thought...
While it may feel like you instantly sober up when something
serious happens, the reality is the same amount of alcohol is
still in your bloodstream. The feeling of being alert is often
confused with feeling sober. For this reason, many people
believe drinking strong coffee, taking an ice cold shower, or
exercising will sober you up in a pinch. These things only
stimulate your brain and body making you feel more alert, but
they do nothing to lower your level of intoxication.
Now you might be asking yourself how your friend was drunkdancing right along with you just before the cops showed up,
but when given a preliminary breath test, your friend blew .03
and your high score landed you in detox. How can this be?
Well, your friend might not have been as intoxicated as you
thought.
Studies have demonstrated environmental cues influence our
behavior. For example, you could drink the same amount on
two different occasions (one occasion being with your parents
and grandma over dinner, the other with your close friends on a
Friday night), and while your BAC is the same on both
occasions, your behavior would probably be very different
based on the environment. Unless your grammy is the type to
challenge you to a game of beer pong and then chant “CHUG
IT, CHUG IT” after skunking you in your favorite drinking game.
Maybe, but probably not likely.
Research suggests you might subconsciously downplay your
buzz in situations where drunk behaviors aren’t positively
reinforced (around grandma and the police), yet even with a
very low BAC, onlookers might believe you are really drunk
based on your behavior with close friends. It all comes down to
alcohol expectancies.
So while your friend appeared just as drunk as you before the
cops showed up, a change in the environment changed your
friend’s behavior instantaneously. Unfortunately, it didn’t lower
your BAC and you still went to detox. Long story short, drinking
less doesn’t make you a fun-hater, it just makes having fun less
painful the next day.
Most Mavericks (over 65%) reported
keeping their BAC below .08 the last
time they partied.
(NCHA, 2014)
(2015)