It can be fun going out with friends and letting loose a bit, and beneficial, too. Sometimes we go a bit too far, though, and for one reason or another, need to sober up.
Once you’re drunk but don’t want to be anymore, the faster you can get sober, the better – and this trick is surprisingly easy.
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A recent study has shown that controlled heavy breathing works more efficiently than just about any other trick.
The reason? Your lungs.
According to Dr. Joseph Fisher of Canada’s University Health Network, 90% of the work of metabolizing ethanol is done by the liver – and you can’t hurry it along.
The other 10%, though, is eliminated through the kidneys and the lungs.
His team posited that perhaps harder, faster breathing could help expel alcohol more quickly, the way it does with high carbon monoxide levels.
That said, you can’t just tell a drunk person to breathe harder.
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“You can’t just hyperventilate, because in a minute or two you would become light-headed and pass out.”
So they created a device that captures expelled carbon dioxide and returns it to the body on inhaling, maintaining perfect levels of gas in the bloodstream while removing the alcohol.
“It’s a very basic, low-tech device that could be made anywhere in the world: no electronics, no computers or filters are required. It’s almost inexplicable why we didn’t try this decades ago.”
It should be noted that the sample group was small, and also only had minimal blood alcohol concentrations. It hasn’t been attempted in other settings, and the team admitted that getting super drunk people to follow directions could present a challenge.
Image Credit: iStock
Even if it might not be practical for helping folks in an emergency situation, it could be a nice trick for the rest of us when we just want the room to stop spinning so we can get some sleep.
I’d pay good money for that.
Source: https://twistedsifter.com/2023/01/the-surprisingly-easy-way-to-sober-up/
