Vodka is widely known as one of the main 'party spirits' for its high alcohol content (40% ABV) and the ease with which it is mixed due to it's neutral taste. When you're out enjoying a night drinking with friends, it can be important to know your limitations so that a party atmosphere doesn't turn into a trip to your local hospital!
As with any alcoholic beverage, tolerance depends on a number of factors including your age, weight, gender or your Body Mass Index (BMI).
Also, everyone's body and metabolism works differently, so there's no rule of thumb about how much vodka you'd need to consume to begin feeling the effects.
To further complicate things, people have different definitions of what 'being drunk' actually means, I'm sure we've all seen people staggering out of bars with their shoes in their handbags protesting that they're only 'tipsy'
Getting in tune with how your body reacts to alcohol consumption is a really great idea, and just like you wouldn't gorge on your favorite snack until it made you are ill- enjoying a drink doesn't mean you have to keep drinking it until it makes you physically sick. Drinking culture these days does tend to put an emphasis on the quantity of alcohol you consume, with people often boasting about the amount of alcohol they can handle in a session. There's nothing clever about drinking more than your body can handle, you'll only end up harming your own body (and your bank balance). If building up a tolerance for alcohol is something you really feel determined to achieve, the best way to go about it would be to 'train' your body over a long period of time rather than to binge in one night and find yourself out of your depth.
The tricky part, however, is that whilst your body is pretty direct about letting you know that you're stomach is getting full from chowing down on your favorite food, it may take a little longer for your body to show the effects of the vodka shots you are knocking back.
Three main organs are involved in the breakdown of alcohol, so whilst you are sipping on your vodka drink, take into consideration that your kidney and lungs are working to process 10% of the alcohol in your system, with your liver taking on the remaining 90%
The legal age for drinking varies from country to country, and is generally between 16-21 years of age depending on where in the world you are, and whilst underage drinking is something that will occur no matter what the age limit is, it'd be wise to consider the reasons behind a drinking age.
At 13, for example, your body is not fully developed and will be much more likely to react negatively to hitting the vodka. Results of underage drinking could be anything from minor embarrassment like loosing control of your bodily functions in front of all your friends, through to doing some serious damage to your health or even leaving yourself vulnerable to injury and crime like robbery and sexual assault due to your incapacitated state.You've got your whole adult life to get drunk as much as you want, there's really no need to rush into it!