Are You an Almost Alcoholic? Drinking Out of Boredom Rehab

Please contact a health care professional for medical assistance with specific questions pertaining to your own health if needed. I realize now when people meet me, I remember that because when I met her I had had this intimate, deep relationship and it was very one-sided. I didn’t go that traditional route of walking into a room, of getting hugs from 100 people.

1. Meanwhile, you’re at home wondering how many days it would take someone to find your body after you’ve choked on those peanut M&M’s you’ve been knocking back during your latest Netflix binge.
2. Alcohol, then, represents the daily end of responsibility, the party flag beckoning us to relax and have some fun.
3. If Dr. Carnell is right, what you need is a big surge of dopamine, so why not get physical?

#1 Remove Alcohol and Substances From Your Home

This can be hard if your social life previously revolved around drinking. It’s even harder if your loved ones don’t support your sobriety. People with alcohol addiction physically crave the substance and are often inconsolable until they start drinking again.

Addiction Treatment Programs at Promises Behavioral Health

If you’ve found yourself noticing, “It seems that I drink because I’m bored and lonely,” the answer lies in our brain’s reward system. Understanding this relationship between boredom and alcohol is crucial for breaking an unhealthy cycle of drinking out of boredom and finding more fulfilling ways to spend our time. Volunteering is a great way to reconnect with your community. Helping others actually boosts our own mental health and feelings of self-worth. Plus, it helps us with our emotional sobriety and wellness.

Being perceptive of your specific hunger and fullness signs may be one of the most effective ways to determine whether you’re hungry or bored. Mindful eating is useful in differentiating between boredom and hunger, as it emphasizes paying close attention to your cravings and hunger and fullness cues. Some studies have found mindfulness is particularly helpful at helping people reduce eating in response to emotions like boredom (24, 25, 26).

A therapist can help treat the underlying symptoms through therapeutic modalities like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or trauma-processing techniques. But I’m going to explore solutions for people who sit at various points along the “sobriety is so boring” spectrum. Take what applies to you and leave whatever doesn’t. It’s why nothing seems fun or exciting, and you struggle to motivate yourself to have a good time.

Questions about treatment options?

A lot of people don’t feel good when they first get sober, so it’s totally understandable if your feelings are drinking because of boredom all over the place. One of the biggest concerns with risky drinkers is when they don’t think they have a problem. Moderate drinking is the only safe way to consume alcohol, but drinking in general isn’t safe for everyone.

If you do it right, keeping a food journal can help you see what, when, where, and how much you are overeating. The right way is to write down the type and amount of food you eat, as well as the location and time. That way, you may be able to identify an eating style that needs correction.

In certain situations, being bored too often may have detrimental health effects, such as increased rates of depression and altered eating habits (1, 28). However, those statistics still leave 28% drinking more, and some of those have been drinking a lot more. In addition, there have been reports from the USA of increases in alcohol use amongst people to tend to drink to cope, raising concerns of similar problems in the UK. This could lead to a rise in the number of people developing alcohol use disorders in the coming months, or in any future lockdowns. No matter how you choose to support your loved one’s efforts to stop binge drinking, remember you’re not their therapist.