The BAC values in the chart below , shown in separate rows for men and women , are only estimates. You shouldn't rely on their accuracy when deciding whether to drive or do anything else. The chart doesn't account for all the factors that can affect BAC levels or the extent of impairment—for example, fatigue, medications taken, or amount of food consumed.
If you've been drinking, it's always best to let someone else drive. In the chart, one drink equals 1. For example, one ten-ounce glass of wine would count as two drinks. Also, time is an important consideration in using the chart.
For example:. After just one drink, it will take around two hours for the BAC to return to zero, even in larger men. Two standard American drinks will, on average, produce a blood alcohol concentration of about 0. Even if you don't feel the effects of intoxication , your reaction times will be slowed and fine motor skills will be affected to the extent that driving will be impaired. After two drinks, the metabolism of alcohol in men will further slow, meaning that you will have to wait longer before you get behind the wheel.
Three American standard drinks will produce, on average, a blood alcohol concentration of about 0. At this point, the negative effects of alcohol start to show.
Perception, memory, coordination, alertness, and self-control will also be impaired. After a man has three standard drinks, the equation changes even further:. By the time you've consumed three drinks, you may already be well over the legal alcohol limit , especially if you weigh pounds or less.
The effects noted at the three drink level or a BAC of 0. Six drinks will produce a BAC of about 0. The speed by which a man would reach this level would vary:. When the BAC reaches 0. After six drinks, the BAC and symptoms of severe intoxication and poisoning rapidly increase:.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , six people die of alcohol poisoning in the United States every day or roughly 2, deaths annually. In general, three drinks or more will produce negative effects. These negative effects will increase the more you drink and the more quickly you drink. Because you feel "up" and emboldened, you may not even be aware of how badly you are impaired. These effects can be particularly pronounced in smaller men.
If you are driving, the evidence is clear that you are safer not drinking at all. Research also shows that the severity of life-threatening motor vehicle accidents increases significantly at BACs far lower than the current U. It is also worth noting that the majority of sexual assaults occur when one or both people have been drinking.
To do a quick calculation of whether you are over 0. This is the number of standard drinks that you could safely have in that period. This method seems easy enough, and is free and convenient, too. But not all drinks are equal. Wine, beer and spirits all have varying alcohol concentrations, and the strength of a mixed drink can fluctuate radically based on who is doing the mixing. When combined with poor drunken judgement, it makes calculating your BAC based on the number of drinks per hour extremely inaccurate.
There are, after all, a plethora of free resources geared towards helping consumers calculate their BAC levels. These sites and apps have BAC calculators and charts that are very user-friendly and make calculations based off a series of step-by-step questions. These questions usually include your age, gender, weight, alcohol strength, and alcohol consumption.
However, complete reliance on BAC calculators and charts is not a safe and reliable strategy. In fact, it could give a very inaccurate calculation as it omits important factors that affect blood alcohol level BAC and other medical-related information. For example, your metabolism, drug interactions and food consumption prior to the test can have a profound effect on the measurement. So BAC calculators and charts may give you what seems like an accurate BAC estimation, but can in fact be totally off the mark.
It is a good idea to invest in a good alcohol breath tester also known as breathalysers if you are a regular drinker. After all, a 0. Many people purchase cheap brands of breathalysers for convenience.
Assuming the breath or blood tests used by the police actually measure bodily alcohol levels properly, in considering how many drinks must be consumed to reach a BAC of.
The following quantities typically have 14 grams of pure ethanol: 12 ounces of 5 percent alcohol-by-volume ABV beer, 5 ounces of 12 percent ABV wine, or 1. When counting drinks, therefore, it is important to know the ABV and the size of the pour.
Most craft beers have ABVs higher than 5 percent and are often served in quantities larger than 12 oz. Thin people metabolize alcohol differently from thick people and drinking on an empty stomach causes a higher BAC all other things being equal.
Taken together these factors help explain why it is perilous to simply count drinks when trying to avoid a drunk driving arrest and conviction.
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