# That pesky alcohol tolerance

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-pesky-alcohol-tolerance/74838>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 3, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-pesky-alcohol-tolerance/74838 "2001-08-03T21:26:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@Malice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malice)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-pesky-alcohol-tolerance/74838/1 "2001-08-03T21:26:31Z")

</div>

For how many months or years must a person stop drinking to reset their alcohol tolerance to (approximately) what it was when they started?

My co-worker says hers reset after nine months of pregnancy-related abstinence. But let’s say you’re a completely hypothetical person who’s username is not Malice and you’ve been slamming 30-40 beers a week for 15 years?

Sure, your liver --which tests show to be in surprisingly good shape 🙂 – would appreciate nine months off, but your brain still enjoys a nice buzz and begrudges prolonged abstinence without good reason. It respectfully suggests that your body compromise and sit out only the minimum period required to reset my – I mean, your – physiology.

How long are we looking at?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-pesky-alcohol-tolerance/74838/2 "2001-08-03T22:21:13Z")

</div>

After a month of sobriety and a couple dedicated hours of exercise daily, I noticed a remarkable difference in my tolerance. After one beer I felt excessively buzzed, comparable to about four beers had I still had an alcohol tolerance to speak of.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-pesky-alcohol-tolerance/74838/3 "2001-08-03T23:02:12Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Malice \*  
> \*\*For how many months or years must a person stop drinking to reset their alcohol tolerance to (approximately) what it was when they started?  
> \*\*

Some researchers hypothesize a phenomenon tantamount to a tolerance set point–a rebound effect, if you will, analagous to what dieters are familiar. Once the chronic drinking resumes, the prior tolerance level is quickly reacquired.