Know if You Are Drunk

It's important to know the legal limit for your country and state. In most places: if you have had more than one drink per hour, then you are legally drunk. If you aren't sure whether you're drunk, then you are probably drunk. Do not drive. Walk, or sleep over at a friend's house, or ask a sober friend to drive you home. Do not risk your life.

Steps

Seeing if You're Legally Drunk

  1. See if you've had more than one drink per hour. Every country, and sometimes even every state, has a slightly different limit for what it means to be legally drunk. Everyone is different, but as a rough rule of thumb, your body can process (metabolize) one drink per hour. If you've had more than one drink per hour, then -- you guessed it -- you are drunk. Legally, anyway. Even if you don't feel drunk, don't even think about driving a car even if you feel perfectly fine or going to work or caring for a child, or, editing wikiHow or doing anything else you need to have full control of your faculties for.
    • "One drink" means one standard glass of wine, one shot of vodka, or 12 ounces of beer or the equivalent of in other alcoholic beverages. A sherry, a pint of cider, a Bacardi, a larger etc.
  2. Use an online calculator. Do you have a computer or phone handy? If you want to find out if you're legally drunk right now, check out a helpful Blood Alcohol Content (B.A.C.) calculator. One of the most well-respected ones comes from the University of Oklahoma.[1] But if you're not living in the United States, then you should check out an online calculator from your country.
    • Online calculators also take a significant factor into account: your weight. The bigger you are, the more slowly you'll get drunk. So, a 100 lb. girl drinking two beers will get a lot more drunk than a 200 lb. guy drinking the same two beers.
    • The calculators may also offer more than just the option of the standard meaning of "one drink," and give you more variables so you can see exactly how much you really consumed.
  3. Know what it means to be legally drunk. Drunk is normally defined as having a B.A.C. of .05-.10. In some countries, like Russia, you are not allowed to drive if there is any alcohol in your body at all.
    • That is a percent, so if your blood is more than 0.1% you are probably legally drunk.
    • A good assumption is about .08, but look at your local laws.
  4. Use a breathalyzer. Breathalyzers are small devices that you can breathe into to calculate your B.A.C. Though you may not have one handy currently, you can get one at most pharmacies or order it online -- hopefully you don't encounter one in the hands of a police officer. Stocking your car or home with a breathalyzer is a great idea because it can let you know if you -- or your guests -- are legally able to drive.
    • Don't take a big swig of alcohol before testing your B.A.C. Even if you're just having fun, it will give you a higher reading than normal.

Taking Field Sobriety Tests

  1. Do the "touch the nose" test. "Field Sobriety Tests" are tests that law enforcement uses to see if a suspect is drunk. They can be useful in figuring out whether or not you're drunk because they tend to be pretty accurate. NHTSA has determined that sober people can pass these tests in almost all cases, while about 80% of the people that are over the level of legal drunkenness in the USA (.08%) will fail. The "touch the nose" test is one of the easiest tests to try. Here is what you have to do:
    • Close your eyes and extend your arm all the way out.
    • Try to touch the end of your nose with your forefinger, while keeping your elbow extended straight out. If your elbow drops to your side, it doesn't count.
    • If you miss your nose, you are probably drunk.
  2. Try the "walk a straight line" test. This tests sees if you can walk on a straight line, turn, and walk back. Here is what you have to do:
    • Find a straight line on the ground.
    • Walk six steps forward on the line, heel to toe. Then, turn on the heel, and walk six steps back.
    • You fail if you use your arms for balance, fall off the line, are unable to follow instructions, can't walk heel to toe.
  3. Try the "one legged stand" test. This test sees if you can stand with one leg slightly off the ground for 30 seconds. Here is what you should do:
    • Lift your leg about 6 inches (15cm) off of the ground.
    • Hold it there for about 30 seconds.
    • You fail if you do two or more of the following: swaying, putting the foot down, hopping, or using your arms to balance.

Seeing How You Act

  1. See if you suddenly think you're Superman. If you're drunk, then you may start thinking of that nearly-empty bottle of malt liquor in front of you as invincibility juice. Have you started to feel wildly empowered, ready to do anything, and capable of complicated physical tasks? Have you tried to pick up a person heavier than you are, to walk on your hands, or to climb the side of a building? Engaged in an arm-wrestling contest with an ogre? Tried to lift eight boxes filled with lead? If so, you are drunk, drunk, drunk.
  2. See if you're busting out the wild dance moves. If you're normally a dancer, great. But if you're more of a wallflower and are suddenly doing "The Macarena" with your Aunt Gerta at her retirement party, or trying to break dance to some hip hop while falling all over the floor, then you may have had a bit much to drink. It's okay to drink to get a bit more dancing fuel, but if you find yourself trying out moves you would never dream of on a cold sober night, then you are drunk.
  3. See if you start telling a stranger your most intimate personal details. Maybe you just met a friend of a friend, have become acquainted with your cousin's new girlfriend, or were just introduced to the guy who works on the 3rd floor at your annual Christmas party. Okay, so far, so good. But have you found yourself talking about how you think you have genital warts? Your inability to cope with the death of Pooh-Pooh, your pet gerbil? How you have a fear of intimacy that goes back to walking in on your parents doing the deed when you were in third grade? If you find yourself revealing these intimate details to anyone who will (or tries not to) listen, then you guessed it--you're drunk.
  4. See if you start confessing your love to your crush. You've opened a bottle of wine or your second box of Franzia and see your crush walk in across the room. And suddenly, you're in front of him, talking about how cute he looks, how much you like him, and then--gasp--you're suddenly leaning in for a kiss...only to land face-first on the floor. If you find yourself revealing this intimate information to the person you like while knowing that you would never dream of doing so in the light of day, then you are drunk, my friend.
  5. See if you start sending incoherent text messages. Check out your phone log from the last hour. As soon as you notice that it's nearly impossible to type or to get a coherent word out, it's time to put away that texting machine and to chug some water.
  6. See if you're highly emotional for no reason. Are you suddenly crying just because of your friend's Halloween screening of Hocus Pocus? Are you weeping into your dinner because your friend wished you a happy birthday? Are you inconsolable because your crush didn't show up to the party? If you're not normally a high drama person but are suddenly upset or touched by every little thing that happens, then you are drunk.
    • You know that warm, fuzzy feeling that makes you feel like everyone around you loves you and that the world is all right? Yep, that's alcohol.
  7. See if you lose all coordination. Having a hard time opening the bathroom door? Unzipping your own pants? Dipping a pita chip into a giant bowl of hummus? If so, then you are losing your coordination because you have had a bit too much to drink. If walking from one end of the room to the other is suddenly a grueling task, then your body has been inhibited by alcohol.
  8. See if the people around you seem confused by you. Do you think you're in the middle of a winning story about how you won the spelling bee when you were in the 4th grade or about your life-changing volunteering trip to Costa Rica...only to find that the people around you are squinting up at you, scratching their heads, and looking generally confused by everything you're saying?
    • If people keep asking you to repeat yourself or say, "What are you talking about?" or even, "Do I know you?" then you are definitely drunk.
  9. See if you remember nothing the next day. If you don't remember what happened the night before, then you were blackout drunk. If you remember a few things, then you can think of yourself as being brownout. Either way, not so good, my friend. Not remembering what you did because you had too much to drink is scary, dangerous, and not a good way to live.
  10. See if you're acting completely out of character. If you're normally shy and are suddenly the life of the party, or if you're normally gregarious but are sitting near the radio, thinking about the meaning of life and swaying to "Dark Side of the Moon," then you are not acting like yourself. If you think of what you've been doing during alcohol time and realize that you were acting like another person completely, or even like a more bold, loud, dramatic person, then you were probably drunk.

Knowing if You Have a Problem

  1. Know when you are dangerously drunk. If you are dangerously drunk, then chances are, you won't remember it, or you will be so out of it that you won't consider your own level of intoxication. If you are dangerously drunk, then the other people around you will hopefully be able to tell. Symptoms include stumbling around and falling, vomiting without stopping, having the room spin ridiculously fast, and generally looking vacant and not like yourself at all.
    • This is no joke. There is no magical B.A.C. number that says you are a danger. But at a high level of drunkenness you become ever more of a danger to yourself and others.
    • People with a BAC over .19 make up 41% of traffic deaths.[2]
    • At a BAC of .3, side effects of drinking can include death. At .5%, most people will die. So don't drink too much even if you are at home.
  2. Consider buying an "ignition interlock" for your car if you're afraid you'll drink and drive. These prevent you from driving if you are drunk, automatically. Though the interlock is typically placed in the cars of people who have had more than one D.U.I., you can take this preventative measure to help yourself stay out of trouble in advance.
  3. Know if you're an alcoholic. This means more than just throwing a few drinks back with your friends every once in a while. It means drinking to a level of not remembering a thing that happens, drinking by yourself frequently, and generally being dependent on alcohol. Alcoholism means different things to different people, but if you think you have a troubled relationship with alcohol, then you should get help.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm
  2. ↑ http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124459653821000673
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