Alcohol and Altitude

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Blake

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haswell00
Can someone explain the effects altitude has on getting wasted?

Reason I ask: I was completely smashed on the flight back to Australia, but as soon as we began to descend I started sobering up, and it was happening far too quickly to be influenced by time. In less than 1 hour I went from not being able to hold a glass in my hand to feeling completely sober. :crazy:

I think it had something to do with blood thinning out at altitude, but I’m not sure.
 
Im not entirely sure about the specifics or science behind it but i have had similar things happen to me. For instance, after a heavy drinking session one evening me and a few friends were walking back to the house when we were stopped by the police, who quite frankly acted like the gestapo. Apparently there was a large fight which broke out outside of the club just after we left and we "had been seen fighting". With all this questioning and the urge not to spend a night in a cell for something none of us had even witnessed let alone take part in i guess the body pumps extra adrenaline through the body and makes you feel more sober. Perhaps the decent of the plane made you slightly anxious causing your body to produce more adrenaline which in turn made you feel more sober?

I don't think altitude has anything to do with it though because it takes time for alcohol to be processed by the body which in turn makes you sober again. Depending on your body weight and metabolism this period varies with different people. There is no real way to speed this process up so i think although you may have felt more sober you were still equally as wasted as your blood alcohol level would have still been relatively the same. If i remember correctly the liver can process about 1 standard drink per hour and about 10% of that leaves the body via breath, sweat and urine.
 
Alcohol does have a greater effect at altitude than is normal - I've read somewhere that alcohol can be up to three times as potent on board a plane than at normal altitudes...

Australian Government website
Aircraft cabins are pressurised between 5,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level. As a result there is less oxygen available and gas in the body expands. Less oxygen is absorbed into the blood and circulated throughout the body due to a decrease in air density with increased altitude. This increases the effect of alcohol (ie. dizziness, fainting and unruly behaviour.) Source
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Altitude has a very distinct effect on a body. Or so it would seem a quick google for alcohol altitude serves up various research papers and experience or drinking while at a high altitude.
At altitudes above 5000 feet ASL, the body experiences a higher loss of water through the surface area of the lungs than it does at sea level. This loss occurs because the percentage of water vapor in a given volume of air decreases with altitude. Because this water loss is not accompanied by a loss of salt, as occurs with perspiration, there is no accompanying sensation of thirst. Especially on long flights at higher altitudes, it is advised therefore to have a drink of water every hour or so to replace the loss of body fluids
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Thus it would seem that your body has a thinner blood stream at high altitudes, than at lower. A likely comparison is drinking after giving blood.

http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA158925

I am currently remember by one small airline out of Burlington, Vermont, as the only passenger to spill booze on the ceiling of the plane. Yet I was still the sober one on the ground.
 
No, I don't think so... they are typically pressurized to an equivalent of ~5000-8000 feet ambient pressure (i.e lower pressure than at sea-level, hence why gas expands more on a plane)... you can see this in effect if you look at the bubbles in your G&T next time you fly ;)
 
Touring Mars
No, I don't think so... they are typically pressurized to an equivalent of ~5000-8000 feet ambient pressure (i.e lower pressure than at sea-level, hence why gas expands more on a plane)... you can see this in effect if you look at the bubbles in your G&T next time you fly ;)
Click to expand...

Also the reason that once in a while there might be a flattulence problem, with various aromas mixing in the atmosphere. Gas pressure in gut doesn't drop, probably increases with time, cabin pressure drops with altitude, result is greater release, perhaps not intentionally, perhaps not as sneakily as hoped.

Also, if the cabin was pressurized to sea level, your ears wouldn't pop on climb and descent.
 
Vacations to sea level locations become very expensive for me as I live above 5,000 feet. I can't afford to get drunk at most bars near the resorts.
drink.gif
 
wfooshee
Gas pressure in gut doesn't drop, probably increases with time, cabin pressure drops with altitude, result is greater release, perhaps not intentionally, perhaps not as sneakily as hoped.
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Everyday, as I ascend the 250 feet to my office (in about 15 seconds), my stomach goes haywire for a few seconds, resulting in a rectal vapor surplus.
wfooshee
Also, if the cabin was pressurized to sea level, your ears wouldn't pop on climb and descent.
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Fun (well, sort of) trick: Get a bottle of water while you're flying, gulp it down, cap it, and put the empty bottle in your backpack. When you get off the plane, the bottle will look like it's had a beatdown :).
 
Touring Mars
No, I don't think so... they are typically pressurized to an equivalent of ~5000-8000 feet ambient pressure (i.e lower pressure than at sea-level, hence why gas expands more on a plane)... you can see this in effect if you look at the bubbles in your G&T next time you fly ;)
Click to expand...


I don't drink....
 
Do the cabins of an airplane still manintain oxygen leves equivelant to that of sea level or are they slightly lower as well?

Reason that I ask this is that I've always understood that the effects of alcohol at high altitude are increased and take effect more rapidly is that there is a signifigant difference in oxygen levels.
Oxygen is found to slow the bodies absorbtion of alcohol. Conversely, carbonation (co2) speeds up the process.

I'm just not sure if air pressure has anything to do with the bodies absorbtion of alcohol, or it's effects when already in the blood stream, it very well may, but lack of oxygen at higher altitudes effects the rate its absorbed.
 
boombexus
Do the cabins of an airplane still manintain oxygen leves equivelant to that of sea level or are they slightly lower as well?
Click to expand...

The oxygen levels are lower aswell.
 

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