Drinking When Bored? What It Could Mean Addiction Treatment

I promise it will do wonders for your mental health, which, in turn, will help you feel motivated to do more things. Before I started drinking too much, I loved to write. I kept a notebook and pen beside my bed in case I woke up in the middle of the night with a brilliant song lyric or poem. What did you enjoy doing before drinking came around and took over your social life?

The Sober School

Some alternative activities to consider include physical exercise and outdoor activities, creative pursuits and learning new skills, and volunteering and community involvement. I found that other people who exercise, especially exercising early in the morning, are not the people getting drunk every night. These are the kind of people who are hiding in plain sight, who you’ve never noticed before. But they are smart and interesting, and do activities that aren’t centered around alcohol. There is a quiet time between drinking and your life after drinking. You sleep a lot and you feel a little down your body and your mind and your emotions are adjusting to life without alcohol.

Start journaling.

• Ocassationally, there may still be times when you reach for a snack when you’re bored.
• Those feelings don’t come back immediately when you quit.
• But self-medicating like this is not just bad for your body, but it is also likely to make your mental health worse.
• Even before that first sip, I couldn’t think of anything.

Especially when it comes to psychological types of hunger like boredom eating, external factors often trigger the urge to eat. Throughout 2020 and into 2021, people reported feeling bored at higher rates than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic (27). Some studies have found mindfulness is particularly helpful at helping people reduce eating in response to emotions like boredom (24, 25, 26). Ocassationally, there may still be times when you reach for a snack when you’re bored. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between hunger and boredom.

• And while these things might sound serious and scary, it’s important to note that it’s one piece of a larger puzzle.
• She specializes in mood and personality disorders as they relate to addiction and is passionate about healing trauma by way of brainspotting and other trauma therapy methods.
• However, this can often lead to overindulgence, resulting in numerous health risks.
• By practicing self-awareness and reflection, you can develop healthier habits and coping mechanisms to replace boredom drinking.
• Physical exercise and outdoor activities offer a great way to stay active, have fun, and improve your mental health.
• To be bored means that you’re feeling uninterested in your current activity.
• AspenRidge Recovery offers online treatment programs that make it possible to receive recovery care while still maintaining a flexible schedule.

Practicing Mindfulness and Stress Management Techniques

Drive your car to the mountains, which are only 45 minutes from Seattle and look at the giant green trees and sit by the river. You can go to the waterfront, or to another area that is pretty by your home and look around and take in the view and bring a chair and bring a book and bring a blanket if you want to. You can go to a lake and watch your kids splashing around and actually get in the water and splash around with them. Now that I’ve quit drinking, I am just living, just living, I am just going through life, not recovering. Just waking up and seeing the sunshine or the rain, I’m taking care of my kids, I’m getting coffee, I’m reading books on doing yard work, I’m doing good productive work. Some days are not very exciting, and some days are joy filled.

• She has worked in behavioral health since graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 2019.
• Between post-graduate work and additional training courses, she honed her skills in treating first responders and military personnel from a trauma-informed perspective.
• Without alcohol, you are getting up and getting dressed without a hangover.
• Chronic alcohol use can also affect the brain regions responsible for regulating mood and stress.
• By seeking professional help, you can find resources to stop drinking and address ongoing issues that can make a huge difference in your recovery.

Boredom no doubt played a role in this scenario. Do you walk around the block and phone a friend? In the meantime, the Soberish community is here to support you and help you get there. I certainly would have if I’d read this article five drinking out of boredom years ago.

For many people, an antidote to boredom is picking up their knitting, grabbing a book, or writing in their journal. These healthy diversions fill a gap that drinking might otherwise fill. 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.

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

Many people admit to drinking out of boredom because they feel lonely. However, because it’s so common, we can fail to recognize the importance of addressing it. Boredom can cascade into serious issues like battling loneliness, uncovering deeply seeded shame and self-loathing, and even feelings of high stress can become prevalent. Drinking out of boredom is how some choose to deal with the dull moments life throws at us.