On the other hand, boredom can push you toward more meaningful tasks, says Elpidorou. When boredom strikes, you might call a friend you haven’t heard from in a while, go for a walk or to the gym, or pick up your guitar and fiddle with that tune you’ve been working on. Boredom is a big danger area when we’re trying to quit. When drinking becomes habitual, it eventually becomes the default choice, maybe the only choice.

Recently I spotted an interesting comment on my blog about feeling bored.

Moreover, outpatient rehab can prove to be the most efficient and practical treatment plan for individuals struggling with drinking out of boredom. Therapy and counseling can play a vital role in addressing underlying mental health issues that contribute to boredom drinking. Through counseling, you can gain guidance, support, and learn behavioral treatments to help you change your drinking behavior. If boredom drinking becomes unmanageable or leads to alcohol addiction, seeking professional help can be crucial for taking control of your life and preventing potential health risks.

• Try to spread out your calorie intake throughout a regular meal and snack schedule.
• Not to mention alcohol also suppresses hormones related to appetite.
• This proactive approach will empower you to break the cycle of loneliness, addiction, and more loneliness, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling life in the present moment.
• As ubiquitous as the experience is, only recently have scientists begun to take a close look at the feeling.

Questions about treatment options?

Anything that gets you out of the house and sweating makes for a great alternative to drinking. Walking, swimming, cycling, running, martial arts, climbing, and HIIT classes are all great ways to raise your heart rate and make you feel good (when you’ve got your breath back, of course). It clears my head, let’s me think, presents answers to questions that would never come when I’m sat at my desk. I listen to audio books or podcasts while I’m walking, I get too restless to do that while I’m sat at home.

Constructive responses to boredom

• But if you end up drinking anyway, mindfulness also means forgiving yourself and learning from the experience.
• Different activities will in turn create different thoughts and even the smallest change can start to make a big difference.
• Rising early and enjoying a positive morning routine can help to maximise productivity, activate your best health and streamline your well-being in a time of overwhelming complexity.
• Unfortunately, problems can surface if you use “I deserve it” to justify bored drinking.
• Boredom is a natural state or emotion that’s part of the spectrum of things we feel as humans, and we all experience boredom in different forms and at different times.
• Boredom no doubt played a role in this scenario.

Throughout 2020 and into 2021, people reported feeling bored at higher rates than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic (27). Mindful eating is useful in differentiating between boredom and hunger, as it emphasizes paying close attention to your cravings and hunger and fullness cues. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between hunger and boredom. The same meal schedule doesn’t work for everyone.

• A life vision is a blueprint of what you want to achieve in life, who you want to be, how you want to live, what you want to do with your time and who you want to spend that time with.
• For example, research suggests that vitamin D from sunshine can reduce an afternoon slump, carbohydrate cravings, and symptoms of depression when a person combines getting outside with exercise.
• This may take some careful vetting to find one that works best for you.
• Feelings of ennui provide important clues to learning more effectively, and can drive us toward more meaningful tasks.
• By incorporating mindfulness practices and stress management techniques into your daily routine, you can effectively manage boredom and negative emotions without relying on alcohol.

Avoid alcohol

We have the seasons where we can stroll around in the fine warm weather and other seasons where we have to get all dressed up in our woolen winter clothes. If every day was the same we’d soon get bored. Download our Quick Start Preparation course as our FREE gift to help you stop drinking alcohol and drinking when bored get the best start to your new life. Go to the library and browse for something new. If your local branches don’t stay open into the evenings, snag a book you’ve been meaning to read and head to a café or park with ample seating. If you’re not feeling date night, bake yourself a loaf of bread.

• Here are 13 simple tips to keep from eating when you’re bored.
• Giving yourself something to do with your hands is a helpful deterrent for habitual sipping.
• 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.