At the beginning of those days, plan to work on a hobby or some other activity when nothing else is scheduled. You’ll find it easier to settle into the activity should boredom strike. If you do manage to meet your friends, the added drinks from socializing might affect your ability to get home, placing a burden on your friends. You might plan to start learning a new language during downtime, but put it off in favor of having a drink. Or you lose interest in an existing hobby because it’s easier to drink. For many people, an antidote to boredom is picking up their knitting, grabbing a book, or writing in their journal.

Drinking as a way to cope with boredom indulges in and perpetuates that passivity. It’s hard to think of a more passive activity than lying on a couch with a six-pack of beer. You may think you’re going to feel better after boozing, but in actuality, you’re reinforcing the notion that you need to wait for life to entertain you. Over time, this pattern of behavior can inculcate a kind of learned helplessness, so that every time a person drinks to relieve boredom, they reinforce this learned helplessness. I've spent the last seven years researching and understanding alcoholism, addiction, and how people get sober. 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.

Signs Your Liver Is Healing From Alcohol

In line with the literature previously described, we predicted that boys not only use alcohol more frequently and consume higher quantities, but also begin to drink at a younger age. Instead, no differences were expected with regard to boredom proneness and drinking expectancies. A second hypothesis concerned the differences between adolescents who had experienced binge drinking in the last two weeks and those who had not. In this case, we expected binge drinkers to declare a more frequent use and a higher quantity of alcohol consumption, as well as a younger age of first approach to drinking behaviors.

• Another definition describes boredom as being restless and weary because of a lack of interest in things.
• We were all just sitting around and getting drunk, perfectly content to not really do anything together.
• A lot of other people told me that, look - a one-month break helped them to kind of set a new habit and drink a little less.
• Typically, whether they’re aware of it or not, there was a thought or a sequence of thoughts that preceded this outcome.
• For people with an alcohol use disorder, feeling bored can become intolerable – particularly when alcohol is available as a solution.
• Drinking alone can become problematic when a person has a habit of doing it.

Eventually, feeling bored all the time leads to increased alcohol consumption. With time, you’ll start to develop that aforementioned tolerance, which means you have to increase the amount you drink to get the desired effect. Because the dopamine release makes you feel good, your brain starts to crave alcohol whenever you’re bored, reinforcing the behavior and making it harder to resist. One listener described his realization to me that he'd been using alcohol as, quote, "a numbing agent." And he told me not drinking made him kind of show up for his life, feel more present.

The Sober School

Eventually, those activities pale in comparison to the boost that drinking gives you. And the thing about alcohol is that it is way more efficient and reliable at creating this effect than natural rewards like having fun with friends or eating a delicious meal. It’s released when we do things that are rewarding or pleasurable, which, in turn, encourages us to repeat those behaviors. If you have someone you trust, let them know if you are feeling down or lonely - so they know you won’t mind if they check in with you more often. See if there are organisations around you where you could help out, that would love to use your skills and talents. 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.

By engaging in these activities, you can effectively quit drinking, replace boredom drinking, and promote a healthier lifestyle in 2024. By implementing these strategies, you can effectively manage boredom and negative emotions without turning to alcohol, improving your overall mental health and well-being. In the process, you will also learn to balance positive and negative emotions, leading to a more stable emotional state. You may simply enjoy the taste of your favorite beverage, or prefer the buzz that alcohol gives you better than the feeling of staying home sober.

Consistently consuming alcohol in any amount alters your brain chemistry.

Many of those who do escape addiction will claim that boredom is the least of their problems. In fact they will often complain that there is not enough hours in the day to do all the things they want to do. Freedom from addiction greatly increases the options that people have in life. They can become involved in new activities or revisit drinking out of boredom old hobbies that they gave up during their years of substance abuse. Of course life is what people make of it, and avoiding boredom does require a bit of effort. By participating in therapy and counseling services, you can develop the skills and support necessary to overcome boredom drinking and maintain a healthier lifestyle.