The cycle of drinking to fill time leads to mental, emotional, and physical challenges that can be hard to reverse. Mindfulness is a powerful tool that can help you become more aware of your emotions and triggers. Practicing mindfulness or meditation can reduce the impulse to turn to alcohol when boredom strikes. It teaches you to sit with your feelings, including boredom, without feeling the need to escape them through substances like alcohol. Eventually, feeling bored all the time leads to increased alcohol consumption.
“Well, alcohol was really impacting my mental health.”
When we’re bored, the first thing that pops into our minds to alleviate the boredom is alcohol. The association between drinking and having a good time has been perpetuated and promoted for years by companies marketing beer, wine, and spirits. Given the ubiquitous nature of alcohol advertising, you might look forward to having that drink as soon as you walk through the door at home or meet your pals at a bar. You feel more relaxed after that drink and look forward to the reward. Pretty soon, the anticipation starts to happen more frequently.
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- 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’re ready to break free from this habit and reclaim control of your life, the Stop Drinking Expert is here to help.
- Regularly consuming alcohol when you’re bored has both short-term and long-term effects on your health, even if it doesn’t lead to a drinking disorder.
- Jill enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, friends, and pets when she is not in the office.
Whether it’s boredom at home, stress from daily routines, or a need for excitement, there are healthier ways to fill the void. This article dives into drinking when bored why boredom often leads to drinking, the risks it poses, and practical strategies to help you find joy and purpose without turning to alcohol. If you’re ready to take control and build better habits, you’re in the right place. Have you ever found yourself pouring a drink not to celebrate, but simply because there’s nothing else to do?
This will help you regain control of your life and improve both your mental and physical health. When boredom leads to drinking, people often reach for a drink without realizing the long-term consequences. What starts as an occasional glass of wine or beer to “take the edge off” can quickly become a habitual coping mechanism, making it harder to break free over time. Before long, individuals may drink more often and in larger quantities without even enjoying it anymore.
In more severe cases, drinking out of boredom can lead to severe alcohol abuse disorders. Starting to drink gradually might be considered normal or appropriate, but it can quickly create a dependence and lead to a severe drinking problem. If you’re drinking out of boredom, read on to learn more about what this means.
- Helping others actually boosts our own mental health and feelings of self-worth.
- Sometimes admitting the truth to yourself is the first step.
- Alcohol’s reinforcing effects can be attributed to the way cortisol interacts with the brain’s reward system, causing a person to feel pleasure and therefore reach for more of it when stressed.
- When referring to alcohol addiction, some may conjure up an image of a person consuming multiple daily bottles of low-end vodka and struggling to hold a steady job.
That reminder of how good you’ll feel should keep you from heading to the fridge. 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. You’re going to get bored with doing all this shit and 2 things that could happen, either you carry on being bored and eventually you’ll probably go back to the booze or you’re stuck into the pub. Mindfulness also helps you build resilience, allowing you to face challenging emotions with a clear, calm mind. If you’ve never tried mindfulness before, there are many resources available online to help you get started.
Additional resources to fight boredom in sobriety:
Before you know it, your list of things to celebrate when bored gets longer, and the number of drinks you enjoy each week goes up. There are plenty of situations where having a drink is a great way to celebrate an accomplishment. Unfortunately, problems can surface if you use “I deserve it” to justify bored drinking. Energy drinks are ultra-processed foods (UPF) full of additives with little or no nutritional value. Research has linked a high intake of UPFs to an increased risk of kidney disease.
Melody is here to help as you adjust to a life with less (or no) alcohol. You’ll meet millions of fellow Reframers in our 24/7 Forum chat and daily Zoom check-in meetings. Receive encouragement from people worldwide who know exactly what you’re going through! You’ll also have the opportunity to connect with our licensed Reframe coaches for more personalized guidance.
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. The Reframe app equips you with the knowledge and skills you need to not only survive drinking less, but to thrive while you navigate the journey. Our daily research-backed readings teach you the neuroscience of alcohol, and our in-app Toolkit provides the resources and activities you need to navigate each challenge.
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Forming healthy connections with other people is an important of this process. It’s one of the many ways you will relearn how to enjoy life again without alcohol. Right now, you’re doing a very hard thing, and sometimes hard things feel lonely. Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to connect with like-minded people who are fellow travelers on this path. The good news is that your brain can adjust and restore balance to your internal world.
In fact, boredom has been linked to anxiety, depression, and even addiction. During the pandemic, this issue became even more apparent, with alcohol sales outside of bars and restaurants surging by 24% as people sought ways to escape the monotony of life at home. Studies have shown that drinking as a coping mechanism is strongly linked to depression, anxiety, and emotional instability. When combined with the isolation or loneliness that often accompanies boredom, alcohol can push people further into mental health issues that require professional help to resolve.
I just wanted to go home and crack open a bottle of hard cider. So I’d move the dinner along more quickly, thank them for hanging out, and dart back home. And when I tried to hang out with people without alcohol, I struggled mightily. The brain has essentially been rewired to find these natural rewards less appealing compared to the artificial high from alcohol.
You can read more about the mental benefits of mindfulness here. If you’ve reached a point where you can’t experience joy in anything and use alcohol as a way to escape, don’t brush it off as a rough phase. The sooner you get help and start working on it, the sooner you can break free of it. Talking with a trained therapist, especially one who understands substance abuse, is important. They can give you tools and resources for navigating everything you’re feeling (or not feeling) right now.