Don’t look to coffee to sober you up

If you want to rein in the blow of all those margaritas you ingested at the annual holiday party, don’t look to coffee, suggests a recent study in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

Drinking coffee won’t sober you up, the researchers found by examining the effects of alcohol and caffeine in young adult mice.

Ingesting the stimulant may actually make it harder to realize you’re drunk, the researchers said.

“The myth about coffee’s sobering powers is particularly important to debunk because the co-use of caffeine and alcohol could actually lead to poor decisions with disastrous outcomes,” said co-author Thomas Gould of Temple University. “People who have consumed both alcohol and caffeine may feel awake and competent enough to handle potentially harmful situations, such as driving while intoxicated or placing themselves in dangerous situations.”

Associated Press