Boredom: A Possible Road to Addiction
This might be a bit uncomfortable, as we often drink to reduce the noise of our own thoughts. But if you can spend time with those thoughts, you will be better prepared to make changes that can positively affect them. Boredom is a key reason people give for drinking too much and drinking out of boredom like this can become almost a subconscious activity, something that you do whilst doing something else. Drinking because of boredom happens because home is where we feel safe, unjudged – it’s where we can relax. But at home, it’s easy to get a bit too comfortable… you can get a long way down a bottle when you are sitting in front of the TV half-watching some series to pass the time.
11. Understand your environment
In coaching Ria Health members through the early stages of recovery, many have shared that they feel a sense of boredom—as in having nothing to do—which has led them to drink to pass the time. Talk to other family members and tell them of your boredom so that they can support and work with you in determining other paths to fulfillment. This might help to deter you from turning to alcohol or substance use in order for you to alleviate your own boredom in a self-destructive, detrimental way. It also makes you accountable to others and them to you, if you’ve extended your hand for help.
Understanding the Link Between Boredom and Drinking
- By building a strong support network, you can access the encouragement and guidance you need to stay sober and successfully overcome boredom drinking.
- Sometimes a quick 10–20-minute walk is all it takes to recenter yourself and forget about the urge to snack out of boredom.
- Drugs or alcohol can appear to take away the pain of emotional, mental, or physical challenges.
- Swapping our routines and habits that are damaging you for ones that can strengthen your body and soul will give you a really clear reason why you want to stop drinking out of boredom.
- A person should examine their diet and how it influences when and why they snack.
- Valuing and prioritizing yourself in recovery can be a powerful way to remove the hold alcohol has on you.
Carole Bennett, M.A., is a family substance abuse counselor, lecturer, columnist and author based at her Family Recovery Solutions Counseling Center in Santa Barbara, CA. It is a state of mind and requires a committed determination to change. According to research, chewing gum can improve alertness and reduce fatigue. Exercise also positively affects appetite hormones, which may make someone less likely to overeat. People can aim to get outside at least once per day, and in the winter months, they may consider using a light therapy device, which can also be effective at improving mood. Regular meals also caused lower glucose responses, which can help balance blood sugar and hunger pangs.
Make new habits
It’d be far from the first time I drank on the job, even though I know it’s not a good idea obviously. Part of it is definitely that I’ve had a rough month and struggle with depression, but another part is simply that it’s a slow day. Just imagining the next few hours slowly creeping by – with nothing but my thoughts to occupy me – really makes me crave that drink. This subreddit is a place to motivate each other to control or stop drinking.
You may need to make other changes
You might not want to hear people express concerns about your alcohol consumption or see their disapproving looks. If you drink alone, monitor how often you do this and consider why. If it becomes frequent, try to taper off or contact an alcohol addiction treatment center. If you know you will feel lonely or down, try and plan some interactions to reduce those feelings and your reliance on alcohol. Whatever the reason for your boredom, drinking can create a negative cycle around it. So whether you are an absent-minded drinker or a lonely or anxious one, what can you do to prevent drinking out of boredom?
- There can be a bit of stigma around boredom, but it can also fuel so much creativity.
- If you tend to crave or reach for certain foods when you’re bored, you might be tempted to completely stop eating those foods to remove the temptation.
- Taking the opportunity to travel and discover new places can be a great way to break out of your routine and discover new experiences.
- The discomfort of not knowing how we should fill our newfound time and space can lead to feeling squirrely, antsy, and can lead to relapse.
- The best approach to treatment includes access to follow-up therapy, management of skills, group or peer support, strategies to prevent relapse and prescribed medications if needed.
- You might occasionally consume several alcoholic beverages to blot out a highly stressful day.
This may keep you more full and less hungry than eating the same number of calories on a less regular meal schedule (5). I encourage anyone in recovery to be open, honest, and willing to do the work. Besides, it is all up to you to be the person you would like to become. If you need support in your journey, our team at Ria Health is always here to help you, and we’re only a call away.
- Research indicates that alcohol may cause people to consume more food and amplify their perception of appetite.
- However, finding constructive and fun activities in sobriety is essential for maintaining long-term recovery.
- Instead of the person feeling like they are jetting down a runway at 200 miles per hour, it feels like life is moving in slow motion.
- For many clients, this is the first time that they are presented with the opportunity to start creating a life of meaning and importance.
- But many of us should because millions of us resort to drinking out of boredom whilst relaxing at home.
The Sober School
Yet, if boredom eating is affecting your mental or physical health with side effects like weight gain and anxiety, you may be looking for a way to stop. Particularly between 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people reported increased feelings of boredom and altered eating habits, as well as side effects like weight gain (1, 27). When you’re feeling bored, taking a walk not only provides a distraction from any urges to snack but also physically removes you from food temptations. Identifying the triggers in your life that tend to cause the urge to eat when you’re bored is key to breaking the habit. Research suggests that emotional eating often happens as a response to loneliness, boredom, or anxiety.
Different activities will in turn create different thoughts and even the smallest change can start to make a big difference. If you are filling voids in your life with alcohol, then you need to decide what else can fill you up instead. When you don’t feel you have anyone to talk to or anywhere to go, drinks can drinking due to boredom feel like a constant, a friend. Unfortunately, drinking alcohol because of boredom makes you feel worse which in turn, makes you feel even less confident about going out and making new connections. If you want to reduce the amount of alcohol you drink, it makes sense to avoid busy bars and thirsty friends.