Author: Gary Jackson

Im Bored .. And Drinking Gives Me Something To Do.

Take our short alcohol quiz to learn where you fall on the drinking spectrum and if you might benefit from quitting or cutting back on alcohol. It is very common for people to replace alcohol with sugar in the beginning, which is detrimental not only to your waistline and physical health but your mental well-being as well. Getting outside and communing with nature is scientifically proven to reduce stress and improve mental health and cognitive function in both kids and adults. When you get sober, you realize there is an entire daytime pulse in your city or town that you never really felt before. Things that people do during that day that don’t involve recovering or boozy brunch. But if you can’t or aren’t able to do a group class, at the very least, take a tech-free 30-minute walk every day.

But, much like dopamine, alcohol disrupts and inhibits the production of GABA in our body. Our brains like efficiency, so it takes note of the experience. Normally, this helps us learn and survive by rewarding life-sustaining actions like eating or having sex. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain, essentially acting like a “feel-good” signal. I encourage anyone in recovery to be open, honest, and willing to do the work. Besides, it is all up to you to be the person you would like to become.

Finding Healthier Ways to Cope with Boredom

In coaching Ria Health members through the early stages of recovery, many have shared that they feel a sense of boredom—as in having nothing to do—which has led them to drink to pass the time. Find a support group and make contact with them regularly. This consistent connection will help foster healthy relationships in recovery with people who can support you and what you’re going through in the present moment. Losing relationships to the substance can be challenging but anchoring to others in recovery can be the very thing you need to feel worthy of recovery. There is a strong relationship between boredom, stress, and drug or alcohol use.

Recognizing and addressing personal triggers that lead to boredom drinking is crucial for maintaining a sober lifestyle. By developing self-awareness and reflecting on your emotions and thought patterns, you can uncover the triggers for boredom drinking and take proactive steps to address them. However, boredom drinking can result in a damaging cycle that is difficult to break and can negatively impact ongoing mental health. It’s essential to understand the link between boredom and alcohol consumption to take control of your life and prevent drinking out of boredom. AspenRidge Recovery offers online treatment programs that make it possible to receive recovery care while still maintaining a flexible schedule. AspenRidge Recovery methodologies prove to support clients through recovery and long-term care.

Effects of Bored Drinking

Many scientific studies have proved a positive relationship between boredom/loneliness and excessive alcohol use. When discussing boredom in recovery, I often suggest that my clients look at some of the activities they are willing to do to help pass the time when feeling bored. For members who report drinking out of boredom, I often remind them that there are probably a lot of other things to do within their busy lives, if they take a moment to reflect. Honesty promotes trust among peers, aids in building strong bond, promotes healthy coping mechanisms, and enables us to take accountability for our feelings, thoughts, and actions. While it can be tempting to revert to old, dishonest tendencies, leading with honesty will promote a successful recovery. Physical exercise and outdoor activities offer a great way to stay active, have fun, and improve your mental health.

Dealing with monotony and underlying mental health issues typically requires self-awareness and outside assistance through various forms of therapy addressing underlying conditions. Most people drink in order to fill a void of some sort, e.g. an unhappy relationship, an unfulfilling job, loneliness or feeling bored with your daily routine. If you take alcohol away, but do nothing to change those other factors, you’re probably going to feel it. Reflect on your drinking patterns and keep track of them to identify your boredom drinking triggers.

Strategies for Overcoming Boredom Drinking

Alcohol can be in a unique position of being both the solution to and the cause of pain. Yet, no matter how much pain it causes to the individual or family, alcohol is one of the most difficult substances to remove. As humans, we’re meant to experience the full spectrum of positive and negative emotions – that’s how we’re designed. There can be a bit of stigma around boredom, but it can also fuel so much creativity.

• How we react to the state of boredom is critical to our ongoing mental health, experts state.
• Sometimes admitting the truth to yourself is the first step.
• When I drank alcohol, I could (and did) sit and do nothing for hours.

Sometimes boredom in sobriety looks like not wanting to be around anyone. Acute anxiety and depression from the withdrawal process can ease within a few days to a week. But for many people, lingering feelings of anxiety, depression, and general malaise can last weeks, months, or even longer. In drug rehab centers in South Carolina, a wide range of substance addictions are addressed.

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

By focusing on eating healthy, nourishing foods, you are actively working on reversing those symptoms. If nothing else, it starts to chip away at any notion you might have that you’re unworthy. If you have the time, sign on to a longer-term project like helping with this year’s charity bake sale or the big 5K race your city holds yearly. You’ll get to meet new people and be a part of something positive. When I was finished, it was like someone had hit the refresh button on my brain. I could go back and re-read what I wrote and approach it from the perspective of an outside observer.

• The problem is that overindulgence or even regular drinking is known to cause a number of health issues.
• However, this can often lead to overindulgence, resulting in numerous health risks.
• By building a strong support network, you can access the encouragement and guidance you need to stay sober and successfully overcome boredom drinking.
• When you’re triggered by experiences like boredom or isolation, the accessibility of alcohol makes it that much harder to refrain from drinking to cope with these difficult feelings.
• 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.
• Many bored drinkers likely don’t realize they’re bored drinkers.
• Additionally, I examine the way mental and physical health as well as our relationships with others impact the reasons people drink and their role in maintaining sobriety long-term.

Still, alcohol is a highly addictive substance that can lead to dependency, especially when consuming frequently and in large quantities. Drinking out of boredom may indicate a deeper issue at hand. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America says that alcohol and other substances can worsen anxiety symptoms. About 20% of Americans with an anxiety or mood disorder such as depression have an alcohol or other substance use disorder. Bored drinking can sneakily become an unhealthy habit, and it’s not always easy to curb it on your own.