Drinking When Bored? What It Could Mean Addiction Treatment

If you know your willpower weakens after 9 pm, get up before then and go and have a warm shower instead. Everyone reacts to boredom differently, but the way we react is vital to our health and well-being. There will always be a long lost friend who arrives on your doorstep looking to catch up over a few drinks.

Boredom Drinking Alcohol Abuse Rehab Programs

Whatever the reason for your boredom, drinking can create a negative cycle around it. So whether you are an absent-minded drinker or a lonely or anxious one, what can you do to prevent drinking out of boredom? Here are 5 tips to help you make changes to your drinking habits that could help you feel better, for good. 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.

Why do I turn to alcohol when stressed?

Drinking alcohol is often seen as a very social activity, but in truth for millions of people, it’s the total opposite. Finding resources for ongoing drinking issues, even when simply drinking out of boredom, can make a world of difference. Catching signs of abuse early also minimizes the risks of adverse health effects and increases the probability of achieving sobriety much more quickly.

Phase 4: Way of Life—When the Feet Are Trapped and the Wings Are Covered by Syrup

• If you start noticing these side effects, it’s time to re-evaluate how you deal with boredom.
• Right now, you’re doing a very hard thing, and sometimes hard things feel lonely.
• Look for local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, find counselors that fit their insurance plan, and research treatment facilities.
• Choose a time when you’re both well-rested and clearheaded.
• For those who didn’t work from home, only 12% were prone to excessive 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. What if you’ve tried to do the “normal” stuff people do for fun and don’t like any of it? You feel like an automaton simulating a life, but not finding any real purpose, joy, or meaning.

You put off starting a new hobby or working on an existing one.

The decision is often met with doubt, questioning if sobriety is attainable. It can also spark feelings of shame, guilt, and resentment. However, the variety of treatment options make it easier for individuals and families to focus on moderate consumption or complete abstinence. Self-medicating can drastically impact overall health and well-being. It’s also a common reason many become dependent on substances.

Sobriety itself isn’t boring

• When you remove alcohol from your life, you free up all the time you spent drinking and recovering from drinking.
• 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.
• In my time here, I’ve covered some fun topics such as scrungy cats and pareidolia, as well as more serious ones about mental health and relationship hiccups.
• It’s pretty normal to reduce the entire experience of boredom in sobriety to missing alcohol and believing that getting drunk is the primary way you (and everyone else) have fun.

Some drink for pleasure or at social events, while others find themselves drinking for no reason at all.. Regardless of the intent, there are significant health implications that arguably make alcohol the most dangerous substance on the market. According to Medical News Today, the average adult in the United States experiences around 131 days of boredom per year. How we react to the state of boredom is critical to our ongoing mental health, experts state. For example, CBT might help you realize you look at boredom in a negative light.

• 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.
• You can easily drain yourself dry on activities, responsibilities, and keeping up with a busy schedule if you don’t allow yourself adequate time for rest.
• If I was hanging out with friends, we were getting drunk.
• Find a support group and make contact with them regularly.
• And if it is affecting your mental well-being, relationships, or life in general, it is a significant thing that needs to be resolved.

Additional resources to fight boredom in sobriety:

If you must dig WAY back into childhood for this answer, then do that. 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. So many people quit drinking and end up walking around in a dopamine deficit state, struggling to find joy in anything. Now that you know the chemical reason for your boredom, let’s explore additional factors that might be contributing to these feelings.

#3 Make a Schedule to Structure Your Days