One of the unhealthiest things to do is to eat because you have nothing else to do. Everybody is guilty of it. It is a natural thing to do. I hate to admit it, but I am guilty of it too. I will be sitting in my dorm room doing nothing and all of a sudden, I just start eating and I cannot stop. I am not even hungry. So why do I do it? Why do people eat because of boredom?
One study done by researchers at the University of Limerick states that “boredom leads to unhealthy eating, as it helps to distract from the unpleasant boredom experience.” The experiment involved a diary study and measured the correlation between boredom and unhealthy eating. The results of this study showed that “boredom predicted calorie, fat, sugar, and protein consumption.” Therefore, it can be said that boredom leads to unhealthy eating. This can also be called emotional eating.
Emotional eating is when you eat anything in sight, causes cravings for various types of food, and genuinely leaves you feeling guilty after you binge. This can be due to what is referred to as emotional hunger. Emotional Hunger is when you think you are hungry due to stress, happiness, or boredom. This is different from true hunger. True hunger starts gradually, any type of food will satisfy the hunger, you will have the will power to stop once you are satisfied, and you will not feel guilty afterwards. The main difference between these two types is that with emotional hunger, one does not have the will power to stop and will continue eating until they feel so guilty about themselves as opposed to true hunger where people know when to stop because they are full.
There are many ways to stop boredom/emotional eating. The first thing is to realize that you are not actually hungry and are only eating because you are bored. You want to eat because you are idle and have nothing else to do. Therefore, one way to prevent this from happening is to stay busy. Go to the gym, do homework in the library so there is no food haunting you, go to your friend’s room, or hangout outside. You may not realize it, but even the littlest change in your lifestyle can decrease emotional eating. Trying to stop emotional eating is not about having the most willpower, but more about finding alternatives to eating. It is important to expand your options and keep busy.
If you have altered your lifestyle and still find yourself having a difficult time breaking your emotional eating habit, try and replace the junk food you eat with healthy snacks. Therefore, even though you are still eating, you are eating healthier food at least. For example, throw out all of your junk food and replace it will carrots, apples, and cucumbers. Now when you go to snack you will be eating an apple instead of half of the bag of chips. Not only will this help you physically, but also mentally as you will be proud of yourself for making wise choices. Your self-esteem will improve as well as being healthier.
The bottom line is yes everybody eats when they are bored. Studies say that this happens because ”eating when bored is not driven by an increased desire for satisfying incentive stimulation, but mainly by the drive to escape monotony.” But, you can combat this. Keep busy and active with friends and clubs and going to the gym. If you still find yourself in your dorm room and want to eat, make sure you have healthy snacks available to you. Its ok to enjoy some chips occasionally, but nobody wants to gain the “freshman15” from emotional eating.
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While reading your blog post, I kept saying “I do that.” I really enjoyed reading it because it gave me a full explanation as to why I am always picking and snacking when I have nothing to do. I do agree with the studies that showing that you don’t eat if you keep yourself busy, its almost as if there is no time to eat. I appreciate the way that you explained all of the different types of hunger and supplied us with a list of healthy foods to eat when we experience sudden cravings. I will use your tips from now on, and will try to sit in the most secluded part of the library because that is the only way I will stop the constant snacking when I am bored. Thanks for sharing!!
I like this post because it is relevant to most people because like you said most of us tend to eat when we aren’t hungry. I have often wondered if sometimes we eat when we aren’t hungry because of the social aspect of eating. If a friend invites me to go out to dinner or go to the commons with her, even if I am not hungry, chances are I will go for the social aspect of going to eat with a friend. I found an article that explains how food is a social experience.
This post is so right, and so interesting. I always eat when I am board. Whenever I start doing my homework, I will eat. I put a lot of sneak on my desk so I can eat them during my work. But this is also a very bad habit because I can eat too much without noticed. I brought many healthy cookie that have no flavor and it is quite useful. Here is a website talking about eating healthy when studying, I think if I am going to eat anyway, I am going to eat healthy. Start Cooking
I found your post very interesting since I am guilty of eating when I am bored too! Sometimes it is very hard to distinguish between actual hunger or just hunger because I am bored. Sometimes when I have been studying for a while I find myself craving snack foods as I tell myself that grabbing a snack will be a nice “break”. However, sometimes I am not actually even hungry and just eat to become satisfied. I really like how you included some tips on how to prevent overheating when bored, and I intend to keep those in mind next time!
I read this blog while currently snacking on animal crackers. I realized that I was actually rather full and still found myself snacking on the animals crackers out of habit. I believe that I do it as a way to distract me from boredom or the stress I feel. One must realize the difference between the pleasure of tasting the food and the pleasure of actually ingesting the food. Although a person enjoys the taste, they must realize their stomachs feel full. This distinction often arises too late. It seems dopamine can be linked to why people eat just to eat. Although neuroscientists are still researching the mechanism that causes dopamine to have such an effect on our brains and the pleasure of eating certain foods, it is a viable option to consider. One study showed that one of the happiest part of a humans day is when they are eating. I can relate to this study but it says something about humans I believe. More meta-analysis needs completed to really explain why we over-eat.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bad-appetite/201112/do-you-eat-out-boredom
I read this blog while currently snacking on animal crackers. I realized that I was actually rather full and still found myself snacking on the animals crackers out of habit. I believe that I do it as a way to distract me from boredom or the stress I feel. There are connections I have found that correlate obesity and over-eating as a result of the increased hedonic response a person receives from the pleasure of eating a certain food. One must realize the difference between the pleasure of tasting the food and the pleasure of actually ingesting the food. Although a person enjoys the taste, they must realize their stomachs feel full. This distinction often arises too late. It seems dopamine can be linked to why people eat just to eat. Although neuroscientists are still researching the mechanism that causes dopamine to have such an effect on our brains and the pleasure of eating certain foods, it is a viable option to consider. One study showed that one of the happiest part of a humans day is when they are eating. I can relate to this study but it says something about humans I believe. More meta-analysis needs completed to really explain why we over-eat.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bad-appetite/201112/do-you-eat-out-boredom
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666306002066
I read this blog while currently snacking on animal crackers. I realized that I was actually rather full and still found myself snacking on the animals crackers out of habit. I believe that I do it as a way to distract me from boredom or the stress I feel. There are connections I have found that correlate obesity and over-eating as a result of the increased hedonic response a person receives from the pleasure of eating a certain food. One must realize the difference between the pleasure of tasting the food and the pleasure of actually ingesting the food. Although a person enjoys the taste, they must realize their stomachs feel full. This distinction often arises too late. It seems dopamine can be linked to why people eat just to eat. Although neuroscientists are still researching the mechanism that causes dopamine to have such an effect on our brains and the pleasure of eating certain foods, it is a viable option to consider. One study showed that one of the happiest part of a humans day is when they are eating. I can relate to this study but it says something about humans I believe. More meta-analysis needs completed to really explain why we over-eat.
http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0195666306002066/1-s2.0-S0195666306002066-main.pdf?_tid=75799666-787d-11e5-8ab6-00000aab0f6c&acdnat=1445491774_3e99b5b2b790d6f3982042402d1c9f53
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bad-appetite/201112/do-you-eat-out-boredom
If I am busy all day, I don’t think about food. I don’t have time to be hungry. But if I am just sitting around watching TV or lying in bed, I am so hungry! I hear my stomach grumble and feel my mouth start to water. Personally when I am bored, I don’t crave unhealthy foods but rather I just want a large amount of food. I am going to try to use your tips the next time this happens! Thanks! nice blog post!
I know that I eat when I am bored. It is a good distraction and makes studying slightly more fun. If I am eating something I enjoy, I enjoy the activity a little more. But is bored eating really the same as emotional eating? I guess that depends if “bored” is considered an emotion. Also, I think it is a bit bold to say that everyone emotional eats. I believe that it is common but some people refrain from eating when they are emotional and even lose weight. I think it varies.