Fiction: Coffee Helps You Sober Up

Absolutely not true. You've seen it on TV or in movies: Give the drunk guy a cup of coffee and he'll sober up. “For some reason, this myth has persisted through the years, but you’re still impaired after you ingest caffeine,” says Janet Engle, Pharm. D., professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy. “Caffeine on top of alcohol just makes you a wide-awake drunk. You may feel as if you have the ability to function, but the alcohol level in your blood is the same.” If you’ve overindulged, let someone else drive you home and forget this old remedy that just doesn't work.