Boredom in Sobriety (E244)

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It’s very normal to feel bored when you quit drinking. We get used to constant excitement, dopamine and chaos while we’re drinking, so it can be difficult to adjust. Plus, many of us give up our hobbies that don’t involve alcohol, so when we get sober we don’t know what to do with all of our free time. In this episode I’m going to discuss why some of us are prone to boredom when we try to stop drinking. Throughout the episode I am going to build on our definition of boredom and why it develops. Then we’ll discuss strategies for managing boredom in sobriety.

What to listen to next:

E162: what to expect cognitively when you quit drinking

E235: dopamine and loss of control

E226: using alcohol to escape your life

E228: why alcohol automatically captures and holds your attention

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• Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life

• Anger Management

• Tired in Early Sobriety?

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Cite:

Gillian Tietz. Boredom in Sobriety (E244). Sober Powered. 2024

Please respect my intellectual property and properly credit me if you share my work.

Sources

1. LePera, N. Relationships between boredom proneness, mindfulness, anxiety, depression, and substance use. The New School Psychology Bulletin. 2011

2. Isacescu, J. et al. Cognitive and affective predictors of boredom proneness. Cognition and Emotion. 2017

3. Yakobi, O. Danckert, J. Boredom proneness is associated with noisy decision-making, not risk-taking. Experimental Brain Research. 2021.

4. Corvinelli A. Alleviating Boredom in Adult Males Recovering from Substance Use Disorder. Occup Ther Ment Health. 2005

5. Havermans RC, Vancleef L, Kalamatianos A, Nederkoorn C. Eating and inflicting pain out of boredom. Appetite. 2015

6. Ghazanfari, M., Lavasani, F. The Mediating Role of Boredom and Mind Wandering in the Relationship Between Evolutionary Fitness and Tendency to Substance Use Among University Students. Int J High Risk Behav Addict. 2021.