Drinking to cope? Stress, boredom and alcohol use during COVID-19 lockdown

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. Early sobriety is a critical period when community and support networks are critical. This can be hard if your social life previously revolved around drinking.

Build a strong support network.

It’s why nothing seems fun or exciting, and you struggle to motivate yourself to have a good time.

• That means testing older people, as well as individuals from diverse ethnic and national backgrounds.
• I wish we could clone you and have thousands of you.
• Your mood and emotions play a significant role in psychologically induced hunger like boredom eating.
• This kind of patterned behavior can lead you down a path toward alcohol addiction.
• When I started to get sober, there was no desirability that was included.
• I know plenty of people have alcohol use disorder who will throw up and then go right back to the bar to continue drinking, because that’s part of the problem.
• Dulling our learning centers with a sedative like alcohol makes it much harder to rewire our brains and improve our confidence and comfort in new situations.

Why do you keep turning to food?

• It may also take some of the fun away, not to mention a willingness to stay in a noisy bar as the hour grows late.
• Footprints to Recovery offers alcohol addiction treatment that’s evidence-based and personalized to your clinical needs, preferences, and life situation.
• Plus, you might meet some cool people, and that’s always a double win.
• I didn’t go that traditional route of walking into a room, of getting hugs from 100 people.
• People who consumed a lot of alcohol in settings such as bars and parties can also feel lonely after quitting drinking.

You have to understand what you’re feeling and WHY you’re feeling this way in order to change it. Getting outside and communing with nature is scientifically proven to reduce stress and improve mental health and cognitive function in both kids and adults. 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.

Ways to Stop Eating When You’re Bored

Next time you feel bored, take a few minutes to think about how you’d really like to be spending that time. Consider replacing mindless eating during screen time with another activity, such as knitting, doodling, or playing with a toy or piece of jewelry, to keep your hands busy while you watch TV. Some studies have found that people tend to eat more than drinking out of boredom they otherwise would when they’re distracted or in front of a screen, such as a TV or computer (35, 36, 37).

If you have a willing friend or family member, take them along. Plus, you might meet some cool people, and that’s always a double win. Don’t get down on yourself because you can’t get wasted at the bar with your friends anymore.

You might also worry about whether alcohol is causing permanent damage to your brain or heart health. If your excessive alcohol use is a recurring issue, you might admonish yourself for your poor self-control or even develop a sense of self-loathing. Binge drinking involves a pattern of short but heavy bursts of alcohol use. When you drink like this, you consume enough alcohol over the course of two hours to raise your blood alcohol concentration to the legal limit of intoxication (0.08 percent in the U.S.) or higher.

Sometimes being sober is boring because your life revolves around alcohol.

• This can be particularly confounding in educational settings.
• The lack of sleep worsens your depressive systems, so you turn to alcohol again.
• But decades passed with only a few people taking a serious interest in the subject.
• The alternative is either a stale, lackluster lifestyle or one where the only entertainment is destructive addictive behavior.
• While you can’t force a loved one to abandon their binge drinking habits, voicing your concerns and offering support in the right way may help motivate them to change their ways.

Boredom and stress are two emotions that can feel as if they are never going to leave. However, as the saying goes, this too shall pass. Valuing and prioritizing yourself in recovery can be a powerful way to remove the hold alcohol has on you. Reframe supports you in reducing alcohol consumption and enhancing your well-being.

Signs and symptoms of binge drinking

I won’t lie to you and say that it’s guaranteed that you’ll have a large support network. I won’t lead you on and make you think that everyone will appreciate you trying to become a better human being. All I can do is tell you that the fear is natural, but you have to proceed anyway. If you follow these tips, you’ll finally be able to get your drinking under control.