Myth: Caffeine can counteract the affects of alcohol (i.e. sober someone up)

The myth that caffeine can sober one up if they drink it with alcohol is in fact just a myth. Caffeine has no effect on the metabolism of alcohol, it does not reduce impairment in any way and does not sober one up. The reason that the myth had some ground to stand on initially was because caffeine masks the effects of alcohol.  This masking of the feelings of alcohol makes people think they’re sober and so they drink much more thus getting them more drunk and possibly leading to health problems. Alcoholic drinks are still working their damage even if someone isn’t able to feel it, this unknown damage is why there are deaths associated with energy drinks and alcoholic beverages. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a fact sheet on their website stating that the “Dietary Guidelines for Americans” cautions against mixing alcohol with caffeine. This shows that there has been professional work on seeing the effects of caffeine with alcohol and the dangers of doing so. Drinkaware.co.uk talks about how caloric beer is and how sugary energy drinks usually are, this could lead to health problems. Drink aware states “putting on weight and drinking alcohol can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes….. sugar can also add to the risk”. It was difficult to find any source that said caffeine actually helps with sobering one up. I searched for someone saying that it helps to see the other side of the argument but the only thing it seems to help is feeling tired and the morning grumps. From all found sources it says one thing, and that is caffeine does not sober one up from getting drunk on alcohol.

https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/caffeine-and-alcohol.htm

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/effects-on-the-body/alcohol-and-energy-drinks/