Blog

When you use alcohol (or any substance) to artificially boost serotonin and dopamine levels in your brain, you create an imbalance in the brain. Getting sober is like learning to walk again after a terrible accident. You should be able to go about living your life without drinking alcohol, drinking because of boredom but you feel utterly useless and have no idea what to do with yourself. Boredom has an emotional quality to it, and cognitive behavioral therapy teaches that feelings are an outgrowth of thoughts. Someone who’s bored and drinking on a couch probably didn’t get there by accident.

• Or it’s in my cleaning products, so I use natural cleaning products.
• It’s not as simple as “getting out there” and “trying something new.” It’s hard to do that when you suffer from extreme depression and anhedonia.
• It’s all part of a new rollout for Meta AI’s latest large language model, Llama 3.
• On the other hand, when you’re experiencing boredom hunger — or another type of emotional hunger — you may crave a certain food without any of the traditional signs of physical hunger.

You can read Anne’s full interview with the New York Times here.

If you’re trying to cut back on your drinking, we got you. It’s important to identify why you’re drinking in the first place. You should also surround yourself with people who will help you quit and celebrate your wins along the way. A recent study has shown that women who drink more than 8 drinks a week are at higher risk for coronary heart disease.

Don’t Ban All of Your Favorite Foods

The most effective treatment provides access to ongoing therapy, skills training, group or peer support, relapse avoidance techniques, and prescribed medications, if necessary. Taking a personalized approach allows many families and individuals the chance to adjust treatment to best suit lifestyle, needs, and long-term goals. Many people struggle with drinking out of boredom, and even if they don’t particularly like alcohol or its effects. Studies have shown that easily bored people are at higher risk of anxiety, depression, drug addiction, alcohol misuse, anger, and a number of other issues. Boredom can unexpectedly become a cue for sensation-seeking behavior.

[Podcast] Episode 9: Negotiate Alcohol Peer Pressure with FBI Tactics (with Chris Voss)

These healthy diversions fill a gap that drinking might otherwise fill. 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.

Other research also notes an association between chewing gum and a more positive mood and sustained attention. Moreover, the minty flavor may cleanse the palate and make a person less tempted to snack. A simple strategy to stop eating when bored is to chew a piece of gum.

If you must dig WAY back into childhood for this answer, then do that. When I quit drinking, I was lucky to have a spouse that supported my decision. I have gone to bars with people I genuinely like as a sober person, and I don’t stay for longer than an hour or two if nothing is happening. When you remove alcohol from your life, you free up all the time you spent drinking and recovering from drinking.

Boredom and Substance Abuse

And so what was in the files was all of that research that we mentioned all of the studies about — animals, and workers, the birth defects. It was really the first time that the public saw what DuPont and 3M had already seen, which is the potential health harms of these chemicals. Yeah, I feel like I’ve been hearing about these chemicals actually for a very long time. I mean, nonstick pans, Teflon — that’s the thing that’s in my mind when I think PFAS. Yeah, so PFAS stands for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They’re often called forever chemicals just because they persist so long in the environment and they don’t easily break down.

Addiction Treatment Programs