Alcohol And Coffee

[radiohead]

I recently went on a trip to New York. I was my first time on a plane (it was a band trip) and I was quite nervous. When I get nervous, I tend to drink coffee cup after coffee cup until I stop being nervous.

 

Well, after about 2 cups of coffee, I had to use the restroom very badly. Over teh period of the trip, about 4 days, I had probably 40-50 cups of coffee. I didn't really like New York that much. I was using teh restroom liek crazy.

 

The day after I got back from the trip, teh drug and alcohol person came to my school saying that coffee can't help you when your drunk. I was thinking about that tonight and realized it does help if you use it right. If you drink a beer, and after that drink a cup of coffee, about 5 minutes later, you will have teh urge to urinate. If you do go and urinate, the alcohol that hasn't been absorbed into teh blood stream will be passed reducing how drunk you will get and how fast you will get drunk.

 

Using this theory, you could have a beer and a cup of coffee alternately and become less drunk in more time. Am I wrong in this?

 

EDIT: I am only 16, so I can't exactly test out this theory without getting an adult involved. So if any of you guys would like to test this out, feel free please and post your results.

[NeonBlack]

I believe alcohol and coffee will both increase your need to urinate- (they are called diuretics, if i remember correctly) so I don't think it really makes a difference.

 

Keep in mind that many alcoholic drinks are caffeinated as well. (Coke and rum, vodka red bull)

 

Although a little can be calming, too much caffiene will actually make you more nervous, especially on an empty stomach. In my opinion tea is best, vivarin is the worst. Coffee and cola are somewhere inbetween.

[Glider]

The old idea of using coffee to sober up a drunk is a bit of a myth. If you ply a drunk with coffee, you just end up with a wide-awake drunk, not always the best idea. In the longer term however, caffine does elevate metabolism temporarily, so it will increase the rate at which alcohol is passed through the system, but not by enough to make a huge difference. As long as the person is not dying of alcohol poisoning, it's usually best to just let sleeping drunks lie.

 

The alcohol-caffine mix (e.g. vodka & Red Bull) is popular because it's a 'party mix'. The alcohol will do its usual 'social function' of lowering inhibition etc, and the caffine prevents the associated drowsiness, but again with too much, all you end up with is wide-awake drunks which often translates as a bunch of 17 year olds trying to push broken bottles into each other in town centres on Saturday nights.

[jdurg]

Sorry to say it, but the idea that drinking coffee will make you pee more and get rid of the alcohol is completely wrong. Urine is just filtrate from your blood, so the alcohol MUST get into your bloodstream in order for you to urinate it away. Therefore, peeing a lot to reduce the amount of alcohol that gets into your blood simply does not work. The alcohol gets into your blood no matter what you do. In fact, caffeine may make you even more intoxicated because it increases your heartrate and your blood pressure, thus causing the alcohol to reach your brain faster than normal. Any increased metabolism is counterbalanced by this increased speed at which it gets into your brain. Hundreds of thousands of separate studies have shown that the effects of alcohol are not lessened at all by the effects of caffeine. One may think that they are more sober than they really believe they are, but when the higher level brain functioning tests are performed, they show no improvement over those who haven't had caffeine. There is only one way to sober up, and that is with time.

[Phi for All]

Alcohol, like caffeine or nicotine or any other poison you put into yout body, is all about tolerance. Some people have a high tolerance and need three beers to start feeling their buzz, while others with low tolerance drink half a beer and don't finish it because they feel too tipsy. Many people could never drink anywhere close to 10 cups of coffee a day like you, no matter how nervous they are. You have a very high tolerance for caffeine.

 

Beware if you have a high tolerance for alcohol. You can easily go past your body's tolerance level while your judgement and reason is still looking for the bartender. There is a marked tendency to keep pushing for more of a buzz as your tolerance level grows, whether it's coffee, booze or cigarettes.

[Dak]

If you drink a beer, and after that drink a cup of coffee, about 5 minutes later, you will have teh urge to urinate.

 

if you drink a beer, about 5 minits later you will have the urge to pee wether you have a coffe or not.

 

What happens to a cell when it is exposed to adrenaline:

 

upon binding adrenaline (aka epinephrine), the transmembranal β-adrenogenic receptor will phosphoralise its associated G-protein (Gs). Gs will then activate adenylyl cyclase, an enzyme that catalyses the conversion of ATP into cyclic adenase monophosphate (cAMP). cAMP activates protein kinase A, which in turn phosphorylates select proteins to initiate the cellular response to epinephrine. Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (CNPD) converts cAMP into AMP to limit the longevity of the epinephrine responce

 

Caffien, like all methylxanthines, interferes with CNPD, having the effect of suppressing the cells ability to 'reset' itself after being exposed to adrenaline: essentially increasing the effects of the adrenalin which is floating about in your system.

 

in quite a few ways the effects of adrenaline (being a central nervouse system stimulant etc) are the opposite to the effects of alcohol and so caffine, by increasing the effects of adrenaline, would have some counter-acting/antidote effects towards alcohol; but it is relatively short-lived, and has nothing to do with caffiens diuretic properties.

 

(spot the guy whos had to do an essay on methylxanthines)

[Dak]

Some people have a high tolerance and need three beers to start feeling their buzz,

 

Three? Three!?! And thats three of your wussy, piss-week, american, nats-piss, 0.5%ABV 'flavoured-water-with-delusions-of-grandure' beer?

 

And you say it like its alot????

 

You americans are wusses

[YT2095]

I must confess that both Kitty and I like to have a shot of dark Rum in a Black coffee every morning in the winter time when it`s cold/raining/icey out.

never had the Pee-Pee problem

 

however Alc has a strange effect, you drink 1litre of beer and you`ll pee 1.1litre out and so it goes...

hence the dehydration in the morning when your mouth feels like the bottom of a bird cage, and your breath isn`t too much better either:)

 

MODERATION in EVERYTHING is the key

[Phi for All]

Three? Three!?! And thats three of your wussy' date=' piss-week, american, nats-piss, 0.5%ABV 'flavoured-water-with-delusions-of-grandure' beer?

 

And you say it like its alot????

 

You americans are wusses [/quote']When I was drinking, I couldn't hold enough beer (even Guinness) to satisfy my buzz. Unfortunately I was very high tolerance and switched to Scotch and water. Then I found the water made me pee too much and just drank the Scotch straight. Coffee was only good for making an expensive bottle of Kahlua last longer. Now I stick to just the water and things have improved for me dramatically.

 

Back on topic, any scheme that allows you to drink more or longer has already been tried. I remember drinking olive oil once before a party because someone said it coated the stomach and kept the alcohol from going into the bloodstream quite as fast. Any kind of food prior to eating is good for slowing absorption, but oils are not any better than a burger and fries. Trust me, once you've got the alcohol in your system, blood alcohol levels go down only with time.

[YT2095]

that "Buzz" is a frame of mind thing as much as anything else too!

 

it`s NOT Quantity dependant, it`s Mood

you can "chase it" all day long and never find it (and probably get very disillusioned or ill as a result).

 

I love nothing more than a good "Beer Buzz", but I know when to bother and when not to, it`s a Mood thing

[Dak]

however Alc has a strange effect' date=' you drink 1litre of beer and you`ll pee 1.1litre out and so it goes...

hence the dehydration in the morning when your mouth feels like the bottom of a bird cage, and your breath isn`t too much better either:)[/quote']

 

thats the main cause of the hangover, dehydration...

 

Iv never tried this, but Iv heard that theres a tonic made for babies, to rehydrate them if they get diohreahh... apparently, if you use that as a mixer your hangover is significantly lesser the next morning, due to the rehydratory properties.

 

When I was drinking, I couldn't hold enough beer (even Guinness) to satisfy my buzz.

 

that "Buzz" is a frame of mind thing as much as anything else too!

 

iv never got this 'buzz' which i hear people talk about (not from alcohol, anyway). Id describe what i get as more of a 'slur'. Its still fun, but not really what id call a buzz it tends to feel like iv just woken up, but without the inclanation to kill people (ie, i am incoherant, cannot walk strait, everything is blurry, i cannot think strait/fast, i become extremely horney, need to pee and want to go back to bed).

 

theres never a 'buzz'

[mmalluck]

i become extremely horney, need to pee and want to go back to bed).

 

Remind me to not go out drinking with Dak....

[Phi for All]

Remind me to not go out drinking with Dak....

Reread his post, he's fine when he's been drinking, just don't wake up next to him.

[YT2095]

thats the main cause of the hangover' date=' dehydration...

 

Iv never tried this, but Iv heard that theres a tonic made for babies, to rehydrate them if they get diohreahh... apparently, if you use that as a mixer your hangover is significantly lesser the next morning, due to the rehydratory properties.

 

 

 

 

 

iv never got this 'buzz' which i hear people talk about (not from alcohol, anyway). Id describe what i get as more of a 'slur'. Its still fun, but not really what id call a buzz it tends to feel like iv just woken up, but without the inclanation to kill people (ie, i am incoherant, cannot walk strait, everything is blurry, i cannot think strait/fast, i become extremely horney, need to pee and want to go back to bed).

 

theres never a 'buzz'[/quote']

 

your 2 points:

1) it does work

it`s either Rehydrat or Dioralyte in the little tinfoil packets that you mix with water of a certain volume, my spelling maybe a little off with thier names , but ask a Chemist for them and (s)he`ll know what you mean

 

2) the Buzz

all I can I think of is that maybe alc effects some in different ways than it does with others (the reason... I`ve no idea?)

I know that on a bright sunny morrning in my garden, I can pop a beer and sit there in the sunshine listening to the birds and watching my plants grow, and the whole universe is just PERFECT! even if it`s only for an hour or 2, ya don`t have to get "Drunk" or even tipsy, it`s hard to describe really, but a good beer buzz on days like that are hard to beat

 

and no I`m not an alcy, I just know how to use the stuff correctly

[radiohead]

Ok, thanks for cearing that up. I didn't know alcohol also caused you to use the bathroom.

[Dak]

Reread his post, he's fine when he's been drinking, just don't wake up next to him.

 

im usually more agreable in the morning if i have company, as long as it is either a)bearing tea, or b)naked, or preferably c)both. so waking up next to me is fine.

 

waking me up is not, as evidenced by the fact that it is usually done by my housemates from a distance, using projectiles.

 

Dioralyte

 

yup, thats the one.