Planning interactions according to “Sober in Seven” can help reduce feelings of loneliness and prevent reliance on alcohol. Having a list of supportive contacts is beneficial because it can provide you with immediate access to people who will encourage and support you on your journey to recovery. Will eating salads and drinking water make your boredom go away? Not exactly, but it can make you feel better, which has a ripple effect on whether or not you enjoy your life. One of the best things you can do for yourself when you’re feeling bored in sobriety is to find a way to serve others.

Alternative Activities to Replace Boredom Drinking

Also know what you are going to drink and select from alcohol alternatives. Bars are more frequently providing alcohol-free beverages to help encourage safe drinking habits and reduce risks of accidents caused by driving while intoxicated. Always have a backup soft drink just in case you reach the bar and they are out of stock.

Drinking Out of Boredom: Why It’s Risky Business

For example, CBT might help you realize you look at boredom in a negative light. You might believe you should always be doing something useful or constructive, so you reach for a drink to calm the negative emotions boredom creates. If bored drinking becomes a habit – or if it’s occasional – it can affect your ability to sleep soundly.

Sobriety Is Not The Ultimate Goal. A Good Life Is.

Any of these activities are natural mood lifters and a much better option than drinking to pass the time. The longer you rely on alcohol to deal with boredom, the less capable you are of getting fulfillment out of healthier coping mechanisms like hobbies or exercise. But the thing is, understanding the dangers of alcohol is a type of drinking that can quickly spiral out of control if you aren’t careful. Feeling bored is a natural part of life, but how you choose to cope with it can have a major impact on your well-being. There are healthy ways to deal with boredom and then there are the other options – the things we do to escape it entirely.

In her time here, Karlie trained as a clinical supervisor and an Acudetox therapist. She has a passion for working with clients to help them develop a more profound sense of identity to navigate depressive and anxious symptoms. She’s passionate about working with clients to work through trauma and improve mental stability. In her personal life, Karlie likes reading sci-fi and fantasy and going to Marvel movies. She enjoys playing board games and having home karaoke nights with her friends.

1. But the thing is, drinking out of boredom is a type of drinking that can quickly spiral out of control if you aren’t careful.
2. If you start noticing these side effects, it’s time to re-evaluate how you deal with boredom.
3. She relishes spending time with friends, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, and exploring the great outdoors during milder weather.
4. A sure sign of problematic bored drinking is failing to achieve hobby-related goals.

Meet and connect with such people regularly and let them know when you are feeling down or lonely. We go around on auto-pilot when it comes to certain patterns or behaviors. Stopping at the moment to look around at what’s happening, what emotions you are experiencing, sensations, and thoughts that attention required! cloudflare are present, bringing awareness, and then making a choice. Start consciously thinking about your drinking routines and ask yourself what’s triggering that particular routine or pattern. Workaround managing and coping with those triggers by finding a different strategy that works best for you.

Our Treatment Advisors are available 24 hours a day to help you or a loved one access care. We’re ready to make sure you have the support you need to achieve lifelong recovery. Our team of professionals is dedicated to providing personalized and evidence-based care to meet your unique needs and support your long-term recovery goals. We understand that the journey to recovery can be challenging, but we are here to guide and support you every step of the way.

However, for some people, research shows this approach might be counterproductive. Finding a routine that works for you and sticking with it seems to matter more than exactly how many meals and snacks you have each day. It’s not unusual to reach for a snack when there isn’t much else to do, even when you aren’t actually hungry. Additionally, recruiting a friend to join them may also lift a person’s mood and help them commit to sustaining the new activity. Regular meals increased the food’s thermic effect, which is the amount of energy the body needs to process food. As someone who existed in this headspace for years, I completely sympathize with how hard it is to break out of this rut, which is why this next part is so important.

When you drink, it floods your brain with an artificially high amount of dopamine. Regular drinking alters the brain’s normal balance of neurotransmitters, chemicals that transmit signals in the brain. Eventually, those activities pale in comparison to the boost that drinking gives you. You decide to crack open a bottle of wine and scroll on your phone, maybe message some people you haven’t spoken to in a while, just passing the time. Recent studies have been more than conclusive, as drinking alone and at home has risen a considerable percentage since the stay-at-home orders were put in place. Once your downtime ends, and you’ve made progress on your hobby or taken a walk, enjoy a piece of chocolate before your next activity.

Boredom and stress are two emotions that can feel as if they are never going to leave. Valuing and prioritizing yourself in recovery can be a powerful way to remove the hold alcohol has on you. Outside AspenRidge, Jordan enjoys rock climbing, snowboarding, and playing volleyball and soccer. She believes she was probably a rodeo queen in another life and recharges by spending time with friends and family. Outside of work, Christy finds solace in nature, enjoying activities like gardening and mountain biking, alongside cherished moments with her family and dogs.

If you want to reduce the amount of alcohol you drink, it makes sense to avoid busy bars and thirsty friends. But many of us should because millions of us resort to drinking out of boredom whilst relaxing at home. Parties, seasonal events, family meals or work gatherings might spring to mind. Drinking alcohol is often seen as a very social activity, but in truth for millions of people, it’s the total opposite.

Learn about the best apps to help a person stop drinking alcohol. Balancing blood sugar can help avoid dips in energy, which may trigger eating out of boredom. The following quiz is called the AUDIT, which is short for Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.

Specializing in Compulsive Hoarding and Behavior Addictions, Brionna guides clients towards healthier relationships and boundaries. Additionally, she is trained in Brainspotting, offering a unique approach to trauma-informed care. Hailing from Boulder County, Courtney embarked on her academic journey by earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She furthered her education by completing a master’s of science in clinical mental health counseling from Capella University. Additionally, Courtney obtained certificates in Alcohol and Drug Studies and is certified in Branspotting, a clinical treatment technique aiding individuals in processing trauma.

While you may have solved one problem, you’ve only added a much more real problem to your life in a very serious way. Bored drinking can sneakily become an compare sober homes unhealthy habit, and it’s not always easy to curb it on your own. Simply asking these questions might be enough to take the edge off the urge to drink.

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. I promise it will do wonders for your mental health, which, in turn, will help you feel motivated to do more things. So much of this list is not just about finding things to do, but treating the underlying causes of extreme boredom in sobriety. Staying busy is a great way to stave off boredom and create space for healing the parts of your brain that took a walloping from drinking. It’s particularly therapeutic to find something to do with your hands.

Various factors lead individuals to abuse alcohol, including genetic traits, environmental reasons, and societal factors. 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. Drinking out of boredom can reinforce negative feelings and self-medicate. 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. Alcohol use disorder impacts millions across the nation, many of which are considered high-functioning.