There is nothing that can sober you fast in a matter of a few hours. The only thing that can help you quickly and effectively recover is professional help that includes medical detox, attending addiction counseling sessions, treating dual diagnosis, participating in support groups, and adopting a healthier lifestyle. These strategies can help you get over the effects of alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs in a few weeks to a few months.
Please note this assessment is an initial self-screening, and it is not meant to be a medical assessment or clinical diagnosis of addiction. For proper diagnosis and treatment, schedule an appointment with ChoicePoint.
Table of Contents
Why Sobering Up From Alcohol, Cocaine, Meth, and Other Drugs Is Important
Abusing drugs and alcohol activates your brain’s reward system, giving you feelings of pleasure, and euphoria. However, the high does not last long, urging you to take the substance again. This often traps you in the cycle of snorting, injecting, or drinking beyond the moderate levels leading to substance use disorder (SUD). SUD makes you dependent on alcohol or drugs of abuse that manifest as:
- Distorted cognition
- Weak physical health
- Mental health issues
- Behavior disorders
- Dysfunctional family dynamics
- Financial losses
- Reduced productivity at work and school
- Engagement in criminal activities
The only way to come out of the impact of a substance use disorder is to sober up.
How Long Does It Take to Sober Up Fast After Drinking and Drugging?
You might want to sober up fast to get over hangovers, but research suggests that you cannot overcome the physical and mental symptoms of addiction in a day or so. Instead, it takes time for your body to get cocaine out of your body, flush alcohol out, or remove other drugs.
Executive Clinical Director at ChoicePoint.
“How long does it take to sober up depend on several factors, including your body composition If someone tells you that you can be sober up the next day of a night on alcohol, or heroin, that’s not true. You might feel alert for the time being with coffee, or hitting the gym, but it would help you get rid of the substances. Depending on your condition, it can take around 2–3 weeks or months.”
Factors That Determine the Time It Takes To Sober Up
How long it takes to sober up from drugs and alcohol depends on how quickly your metabolism (Your liver, specifically) breaks down drugs and alcohol to eliminate them from your system. Since everyone has a different metabolism, the amount of time, it takes you to recover will be different. It will depend on the following factors:
Liver’s health: Essential organ to filter blood and remove toxins (alcohol and drugs) from your system.
Gender: Men have a faster metabolism than women
Weight: People with more body fat tend to have lower metabolism, and it might take them more time to sober up
History of substance abuse: People with a long history of SUD will take more time to get clean
Type of SUD: Since every drug has a different chemical structure and targets different cells in the body, some drugs (like marijuana) may take more time to leave your system than others (like heroin).
How Long Does Drugs and Alcohol Stay In Your System? |
The long duration of drugs and alcohol does not mean that you cannot achieve sobriety. Recovery is possible, but you need to follow evidence-based practices to stay clean.
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5 Effective Ways That Can Help You Get Sober Quickly
It might come as a surprise to you that taking a cold shower, drinking milk, sleeping, or doing strenuous exercises won’t bring you back from an overdose or achieve long-term recovery. Instead, these are 5 research-backed ways that can help you in long-term sobriety:
1. Undergo a Medically Supervised Alcohol and Drug Detox
Starting your holistic journey requires eliminating drugs and alcohol under the supervision of addiction professionals who will monitor your liver as it works to get you clean. Since you have been dependent on the substance, a medically supervised rapid detox results in withdrawal symptoms. Some of these withdrawal symptoms could be:
- Changes in body temperature
- Nausea and vomiting
- Abdominal cramps
- Body pain
- Muscle aches
- Headaches
- Anxiety
- Hallucinations
Your doctor will closely observe these symptoms along with your body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. To help you ease these withdrawals, your addiction medicine specialist near you can prescribe you the following FDA-approved medications:
- Suboxone round orange pill for opioid withdrawals and recovery from addiction
- Subutex orange pill for treating heroin, fentanyl, and other opioid withdrawal
- Sublocade injection to sober up from morphine, and other opioids.
- Acamprosate for dealing with alcohol withdrawal
Other than detox pills, you can be prescribed these medications to minimize your relapse chances:
- Disulfiram to control alcohol cravings and prevent a relapse
- Naltrexone curbs alcohol cravings and maintains abstinence
- Brixadi is prescribed for reducing opioid urges and beating OUD
If you are experiencing early signs of opioid overdose symptoms, including extreme breathing difficulty to the point of feeling unconscious, it is important to use Narcan. It can help you reverse overdose and bring your consciousness.
2. Attend Addiction Therapy Sessions
While detox can help you remove substances from your system, it is important to complement detox with addiction therapy. Addiction medicines work best when combined with drug and alcohol counseling, as it help you understand the root cause of substance abuse and learn the coping tools to control drug and cravings. Some of the effective therapies that can help you sober up from shrooms, meth, etc include:
Therapies To Help You Sober Up Fast |
Benefits Of Each Technique |
CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy): | Clears your thought process and helps recognize triggers to help you abstain from drugs and alcohol. |
DBT Techniques (Dialectical Behavior Therapy: | Regulate your emotions, manage stress, and take control of impulsive actions. |
CBT Group Activities | Overcome shame, loneliness, and communication barriers resulting from substance abuse disorder. |
Contingency Management | Rewards you to abstain from drug and alcohol urges, ensuring treatment adherence. |
Motivational Interviewing | Allows you to accept your condition but also recognize actions that can help you improve. |
Family Therapy | Resolve family conflicts and get support from your family members to achieve sobriety. |
3. Choose Dual Diagnosis Treatment
Mental health disorders often co-exist for people struggling to recover from alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and other substance use disorders. Having undiagnosed anxiety, depression, ADHD or any other mental issue can delay your time to come down from cocaine and other drugs. A study conducted on 1356 people with alcohol use disorder and cocaine disorder revealed the incidence of dual diagnosis as high as 74%. Dual diagnosis treatment can help you address the symptoms of SUD and mental health disorders at the same, allowing you to sober up fast.
4. Join Support Groups
Support networks are a group consisting of people who have either recovered from SUD or are also looking to get sober. Some examples of support groups include sober living, 12-step programs, or local communities. Participating in these settings helps get over to dual diagnosis and:
- Adherence to treatment
- Controlling alcohol and drug urges
- Overcoming isolation and stigma
- Fostering hope and accountability
- Managing stress
You can find such support groups online, from a reference or an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center.
5. Adapt a Healthier Lifestyle
Taking care of your nutrition and engaging in physical activity can aid your recovery process, providing you the energy to deal with the withdrawal symptoms. However, this does not mean taking detox drinks for drugs, indulging in loads of caffeine, or sipping apple cider vinegar will get alcohol or drugs out, but rather you:
- Ensure greens in your diet
- Eat healthy fats and cut down on sugar intake
- Go out for a walk, do yoga, or any other light-intensity exercise
This will help your liver stay fit to filter drugs and alcohol from your body, so your cells can receive the amount of oxygen they need to keep working properly.
Find All of These Ways Under One Roof At ChoicePoint In NJ
ChoicePoint is a co-occurring disorder Fair Lawn rehab, providing virtual substance abuse treatment services throughout the state to sober up quickly. Our addiction professionals are specialized in treating substance use disorder, including:
- Abusing Gas Station Heroin Zaza
- Snorting Hydrocodone
- Cocaine Overdose
- Snorting Tramadol
- Snorting Cocaine
- Benzodiazepine Overdose
- Snorting Adderall
- Smoking Crack
- Smoking Weed
- Signs of a Drug Overdose
From detox, addiction therapies, and support groups to nutrition education, we make sure that you come down from the high with minimum chances of relapse. You can enter one of the following addiction treatment programs to achieve sobriety that lasts longer:
- Inpatient Treatment
- Outpatient drug rehab near you
- Intensive Outpatient Program
- Partial Care
- Aftercare
Get your treatment started with us in three easy steps:
- Talk to our admissions team by calling us at 844.445.2565
- Register yourself online and verify your insurance
- Meet with our addiction doctor to receive your treatment plan
We are in-network with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield New Jersey, Tricare, and Optum but we also accept major government and health insurance plans. You can learn more about the insurance policy on our website.
How To Sober Up Fast? All That You Need To Know
Here is more information on what is the most practical way to recover from substance use disorder, what are some popular strategies that you should avoid:
Can You Sober Up In 2 hours?
No, it is not possible to sober up this fast. Sobering up after you have been dependent on alcohol or drugs requires time, as the process takes place in the following steps:
- Start with a medically supervised detox
- Attend therapy sessions to learn coping tools
- Modify your behavior
- Join support groups
- Wait for your body to overcome substance dependency
Does Water Help Sober Up From Drugs and Alcohol Dependence?
Water can only support your sobriety journey. It does not help you remove drugs, or alcohol, from your system. You would need a medical detox to flush substances out and therapy to maintain abstinence. Water can help you with the following during your sobriety process:
- Stay hydrated
- Replenish fluid in your body
- Regulating temperature
What Do You Eat to Sober Up?
No food can help you get sober after alcohol intoxication or drug dependency. You need professional help to get substances removed and improve your behavior. Food can however help you appear sober for the time being and may delay the effects of certain drugs or alcohol.
Why Is It So Hard To Sober Up Quickly?
It is hard to sober up quickly because your liver takes time to remove alcohol and drugs from your body.
What Is The Most Addictive Substance?
Some of the most addictive substances include cocaine, heroin, meth, and alcohol. These substances produce quick euphoria that does not last long which makes you take these substances again, thus keeping you in the vicious addiction cycle.
Does Adderall Help With A Hangover?
Adderall might help you relieve some of the symptoms for the time being, but you should never take Adderall as it can trap you in the cycle of drinking and taking Adderall.
How Fast Do You Sober Up After Puking?
Vomiting can only help you get alcohol or drugs out of your system that you have just ingested. It cannot help you recover from the effects of drugs or alcohol once they have passed into your bloodstream. Alcohol quickly moves from your stomach to the bloodstream within hours, so puking can never get you sober.
Additional Resources
- CBT Exercises for ADHD
- Does Blue Cross Blue Shield Cover Alcohol Detox
- Detox Centers Near Me That Accept Medicaid
- Benzo Detox Center Near Me
- THC Drug Detox
- Detox While Pregnant
- How To Start An IOP Program?
- Virtual IOP
- Opioid Detox Near Me
- Can Narcan Get You High?
- IOP Alcohol Treatment
- How Long Does Alcohol Withdrawal Last?
- Can You Die From Alcohol Withdrawals
- BCBS IOP Request Form
- Rehabs That Accept BCBS In NJ
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Therapists Near Me
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Suboxone Doctors Near Me
References
- Alcohol. Sober up: Time from last drink to a road traffic injury
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38040203/ - Clinical Psychology Review. 2017. Sex and Gender Differences in Substance Use Disorders
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5945349/ - Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2020. Long-Term Efficacy of Contingency Management Treatment Based on Objective Indicators of Abstinence From Illicit Substance Use up to 1 Year Following Treatment: A Meta-Analysis
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8034391/ - Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews. 2023. Motivational interviewing for substance use reduction
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38084817/ - Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2023. Recent Advances in Dual Disorders (Addiction and Other Mental Disorders)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10179482/ - Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. 2024. The Importance of Social Support in Recovery Populations: Toward a Multilevel Understanding
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10259869/
Medical Disclaimer:
ChoicePoint aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with substance use disorder and mental health issues. Our team of licensed medical professionals research, edit and review the content before publishing. However, this information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. For medical advice please consult your physicians or ChoicePoint's qualified staff.