Volunteering and participating in community events can help you stay engaged, build meaningful connections, and reduce boredom drinking. By volunteering at organizations that help people struggling with addiction, you can provide a meaningful sense of purpose and fulfillment, which can replace the fleeting pleasure of boredom drinking. Exploring creative outlets and learning new skills can be a great way to find fulfillment and combat boredom without relying on alcohol. Lainey is a weight-loss dietitian who helps people ditch diets, change their habits and create a healthy lifestyle that lasts. She writes on a variety of topics including weight loss, gut health, pregnancy, breastfeeding and trendy diets.
But these judgments that we can make about ourselves are rarely fair or accurate. Instead, try to reframe times of boredom as opportunities to do the meaningful things you’ve not had time for until now. Boredom is the best excuse to finally getting around to doing these things that can enhance one’s life. Maybe you’ve never been interested in logging your innermost thoughts, but journaling can be a great tool to track your feelings as you work on quitting alcohol. Becoming more aware of your alcohol triggers and reasons for drinking can help you plan ways to help manage the urge to drink. All these tips are here to help you prevent drinking out of boredom.
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. 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. Not on its own, but maybe it starts a conversation and a friend comes over just to sit with you and make sure you’re good. Your friends are out getting drunk, the same as they always do.
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. You don’t have to give up everything; you just want to break the random, mindless, emotional eating habit you’ve developed in response to boredom. Moreover, outpatient rehab can prove to be the most efficient and practical treatment plan for individuals struggling with drinking out of boredom.
If you’re bored and not physically hungry, go work out first and then eat if you still feel the urge. Stress also raises ghrelin, the “hunger hormone,” which stimulates appetite too. Food is comforting and pleasurable—especially refined carbohydrates like pasta, bread and desserts (and we tend to crave those carbs when we’re stressed). Combine that with the fact that cortisol increases the drinking out of boredom body’s need for glucose (aka sugar), and it’s no surprise you’ve found yourself eating ice cream on the couch. Drugs or alcohol can appear to take away the pain of emotional, mental, or physical challenges. Boredom is often simply a state of awareness that shows up just prior to the surfacing of difficult, painful thoughts and feelings we have pushed away from our conscious awareness.
Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues. If you turn to alcohol to manage emotional distress, the added overwhelm can prompt the urge to drink, making success seem even more out of reach.
Based in Wilmington, North Carolina, Borst is a lifelong runner and general fitness enthusiast who is passionate about the physical and mental benefits of sleep and self-care. “Quitting alcohol isn’t just about physical health; it’s a profound transformation for mental well-being too,” says Dr. Kellogg. https://ecosoberhouse.com/ No amount of alcohol consumption is established as safe for cancers and overall health, notes the World Health Organization. Like ultraviolet radiation, asbestos and tobacco, alcohol is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1 carcinogen—the highest-risk group.
We don’t just treat the symptoms of addiction; we address underlying issues like co-occurring mental health conditions and trauma that perpetuate substance use. We’ll also teach you healthy coping skills that support long-term abstinence from drugs and alcohol. By engaging in creative pursuits and learning new skills, you can effectively replace boredom drinking with more fulfilling and enjoyable activities.