Journaling allowed me to step outside of my emotions. I could pour my heart out and every irrational thought onto the pages. If you have a willing friend or family member, take them along. If the internet has shown us anything, it’s that neither matters.

• If it becomes frequent, try to taper off or contact an alcohol addiction treatment center.
• If you justify to yourself, “I drink when I’m bored,” it can quickly lead to overindulgence and health concerns.
• Drinking out of boredom is how some choose to deal with the dull moments life throws at us.
• Use your journal to come up with a more sensible eating plan, and remember that it’s OK to schedule a fun snack at some point in the day.
• When you begin to view your negative thoughts and feelings as problems to be solved rather than the embodiment of who you actually are, you liberate yourself.
• Don’t be afraid to communicate how you’re feeling.

Mental Health Topics (A-Z)

We can address fear and healthy coping mechanisms to combat any doubt and uncertainty that either an individual or family may feel during these difficult times. It’s important to understand that achieving sobriety is possible. However, despite these limitations, the results presented in this article are promising. The present research indeed provides some suggestions for the understanding of binge drinking behaviors. First, the relevant role of drinking expectancies behind these behaviors (e.g., Patrick & Schulenberg, 2011) is confirmed, even if these expectancies are more psychological than social. For other people, drinking alcohol out of boredom is a much more active choice – they drink to cope with negative feelings like anxiety or loneliness.

Finding Healthier Ways to Cope with Boredom

This will help you regain control of your life and improve your overall mental health and well-being. 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. Therapy and counseling services can provide you with the support and guidance you need, and addiction treatment programs can help you address the underlying causes of your boredom drinking.

Sober Activities to Try (That Actually Sound Fun)

That reminder of how good you’ll feel should keep you from heading to the fridge. Are there certain days where boredom is more likely to sneak in? At the beginning of those days, plan to work on a hobby or some other activity drinking because of boredom when nothing else is scheduled. You’ll find it easier to settle into the activity should boredom strike. If bored drinking becomes a habit – or if it’s occasional – it can affect your ability to sleep soundly.

• The brain has essentially been rewired to find these natural rewards less appealing compared to the artificial high from alcohol.
• In general, the adolescents reported frequencies of drinking around the mid-point of the scale, in particular as concerns beer (see Table 1, top left).
• In almost all the studies on gender differences, boys were more likely to present binge drinking behaviors (e.g., Kuntsche et al., 2004).
• Bored drinking might elevate your mood briefly, but it won’t ever match the satisfaction of mastering a hobby.

Additional resources to fight boredom in sobriety:

See if there are organisations around you where you could help out, that would love to use your skills and talents. Whether it’s your partner, friends or colleagues, ask those who know you for ideas of things you can experiment with to fill your time differently. Don’t assume people are too busy to see you, all they need is to know that you would like to meet up.

• The solution is some form of stimulation, which can be healthy or potentially unhealthy.
• This response to boredom can lead, in some cases, to a destructive path toward addiction.
• Take responsibility and choose the more creative and productive path.
• There’s a very fine line between social drinking and problematic drinking, and one could easily lead to the other and cause serious health implications.

The winter months often meet a halt to favorite outdoor activities. This shift in routine, coupled with earlier darkness and cold temperatures, can lead to SAD. Once SAD and downtime collide, bored drinking can result. Many bored drinkers likely don’t realize they’re bored drinkers.

• An initial hypothesis concerns the differences between girls and boys in alcohol use as well as in boredom, and drinking expectancies.
• Facing your unhappy thoughts can be overwhelming, and it’s natural to need a break or a distraction from time to time.
• See if there are organisations around you where you could help out, that would love to use your skills and talents.
• If you can’t, there are yummy non-alcoholic sparkling wines out there for you to try.

Most people experience stress and try their best to alleviate it. You might have a drink to calm your mind, mellow out your mood, and take the edge off stress. You might occasionally consume several alcoholic beverages to blot out a highly stressful day. Drinking to relieve stress may veer into murky territory, if you feel that you must consume alcohol every day to de-stress.

Alcohol didn’t make life fun. It just made you not care.