Coffee Doesn’t Help You Sober Up

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Contrary to popular opinion, it turns out that coffee is more of a hindrance than a help when you’ve been drinking too much. A study at Temple University carried out on mice showed that caffeine had no effect whatsoever on the mental and physical impairment that alcohol caused but instead just made them more alert. The study authors believe that this finding actually shows that coffee has a negative effect on people who have drunk too much by perhaps fooling them into thinking they are less impaired than they really are. Basically, drunk people without caffeine are more likely to understand and admit to being drunk and to impairment while those who have consumed caffeine may feel and believe that they are less impaired than they really are.

Interestingly the research did discover that alcohol reduced jitters and induced anxiety from caffeine in the mice.

All this leads to one important question – what does this mean for the current fad for drinks based on Red Bull and other high caffeine drinks?