How To Overcome Boredom And Promote Mental Health

Occasional boredom is a normal part of life for most people. While boredom may have some benefits, many find it to be an uncomfortable and undesirable feeling. Understanding more about boredom can be the first step toward managing it in your daily life. If chronic boredom is causing you distress, consider meeting with a therapist online or in-person.

What boredom really is

Boredom is both a psychological state and an emotion. The American Psychological Association defines boredom as “a state of weariness or ennui resulting from a lack of engagement with stimuli in the environment.” While the APA goes on to suggest that boredom is considered “one of the least desirable conditions” of daily life, the secondary emotions boredom may trigger in a person can be positive or negative.

Boredom can affect anyone, even in our modern, highly stimulating environments. That’s because boredom isn’t just about having nothing to do. It can also stem from not feeling engaged or challenged by what you’re doing.

How boredom can be helpful

Boredom often feels uncomfortable for a useful reason. As researcher Erin Westgate, PhD, puts it, boredom can be our brain’s signal to us that a change may be needed. This feeling alerts us to “when we're not meaningfully engaged in the world, and it gives us an opportunity to fix it.” In this way, it may be a beneficial emotion.

Boredom can also be helpful in stimulating creativity or allowing space for reflection. Research suggests that this feeling—especially when triggered by “passive, repetitive tasks”—may actually boost creativity, giving the mind space to wander and come up with new ideas.

How boredom can be harmful

Boredom may also lead to negative impacts in some cases. Prolonged or persistent boredom can affect mood, energy, and motivation levels, potentially leading to listlessness, stress, or frustration. 

When not managed effectively, boredom may even contribute to a mental health condition. Consider a 2022 study that looked at how people experienced boredom during the COVID-19 lockdown period. It reports that people who “increased engagement with creative pursuits” in response to boredom experienced “higher levels of self-esteem, optimism, and positive affect.” Those who didn’t use creative outlets as much showed more boredom proneness, more negative affect, and even higher levels of depression and anxiety.

Finally, some research suggests that persistent boredom may sometimes lead a person to engage in unhealthy behaviors, such as problematic phone use or gambling. Finding healthy, effective ways to cope with this feeling may be key to preventing negative outcomes like these.

Why boredom can feel so uncomfortable

Boredom may be uncomfortable because of how the brain responds to low stimulation. When this feeling first takes hold, the part of the brain responsible for focus turns off, and the default mode network (DMN), which allows “self-reflection, daydreaming, and mind wandering,” is activated. This stage of boredom can be generative and may not be inherently unpleasant. However, after too long without stimulation that provides a neurochemical reward, your dopamine levels may drop, which could lead to frustration and emotional discomfort. 

In some cases, boredom can also be uncomfortable because it leaves a person alone with their thoughts. For someone who is living with anxiety, trauma, or suppressed emotions, this experience can be distressing, as these feelings may seem more intense when there’s no other stimulation present.

Cultural discomfort with boredom

Another possible reason for our discomfort with boredom is cultural. For example, people in a capitalistic society are often taught from a young age to optimize their daily lives to constantly achieve, making sure every moment is as productive as possible. Even though this approach can often lead to burnout, it may sometimes feel unnerving to have the free, “unproductive” time for boredom to arise. 

Also, in recent years, constant stimulation and multitasking (like scrolling social media, listening to music or podcasts, or watching TV while doing other things) has become normalized. Even though excessive stimulation may have potential negative impacts, taking it away can feel strange and uncomfortable if a person has become accustomed to it.

The link between boredom and mental health conditions

In some cases, boredom (or the way that a person responds to it) can indicate an underlying mental health condition. For example, lethargy, social withdrawal, and lack of interest in activities once enjoyed could be confused with boredom but are actually potential symptoms of depression, which require professional treatment to address.

Also, people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have a unique relationship to boredom. Individuals with this form of neurodivergence can be more prone to boredom and may also find it more stressful than neurotypical people. This may be especially true for those with ADHD who experience the symptom of impulsivity.

Finally, persistent boredom can sometimes lead to maladaptive “numbing” behaviors, which might negatively affect mental health. For instance, one study links boredom proneness with alcohol use.

When boredom becomes chronic

If you’re persistently feeling unengaged, understimulated, and bored, the feeling may start to impact your daily life. If your boredom has become chronic and is causing distress, apathy, or other concerning feelings or is affecting daily functioning, you might benefit from working with a therapist to uncover and address the underlying cause.

Strategies for addressing boredom

There are lots of strategies you can try to work through or move past boredom. It may be most effective to make small, sustainable changes in your daily life to reduce feelings of boredom or improve how you cope with them.

Shift how you view boredom

Research published in 2022 indicates that “disliking boredom was associated with higher frequency and intensity of boredom” in participants. This finding suggests that shifting the way you view boredom might make it less uncomfortable to experience. To do this, you might research the potential positive effects of this feeling or try one of the strategies below to turn it into something fruitful or enjoyable.

Try sitting with the boredom

Since boredom can sometimes lead to creativity, problem-solving, and ideas for new activities, some people might be interested in sitting with the feeling for a while. As long as it’s not painful or triggering, the discomfort of boredom may sometimes be helpful to experience. If doing absolutely nothing is too difficult, you might do something repetitive and low-stimulation like cleaning, biking, or soft fascination to let your mind wander freely.

Follow your curiosity

Most advice for boredom involves finding a new way to engage and challenge your mind. Learning something new can be an effective way to do this. For example, you might find entertainment and stimulation by:

• Memorizing some words and phrases in a new language
• Learning how to play a musical instrument or do a new dance
• Reading a book or a random Wikipedia page on a topic you know nothing about
• Trying a recipe or a cooking/baking technique that’s new to you

Get creative

You might consider letting boredom inspire your creativity. You could do some doodling or coloring, make a collage, write a poem, or explore other things in this vein. Or, you might find a unique way to fix something around the house or rearrange the furniture or decor in your room. Boredom may give you the free time to explore different creative outlets.

Use the time for self-reflection 

For some people, boredom can be an opportunity to explore the potentially profound effect of self-reflection. You could look up some journaling prompts and start writing, make a video diary about your day, or take a personality test. You could also practice mindfulness in the sense of noticing, without judgment, the emotions that arise when you’re bored to help you understand your experience and stay grounded. 

If you have experienced trauma, you may find it emotionally safer and more comfortable to start engaging in self-reflection with the guidance of a therapist.

Connect with someone 

Boredom can sometimes be an opportunity to connect with others. This feeling might inspire you to strike up a conversation with a neighbor, visit a friend, call a relative, or write a letter to a loved one. 

Take the opportunity to practice self-care

Another possibility when you're bored is to use the time for self-care. You might think about your current needs or consider ways of looking after yourself that you haven’t done in a while, then try a self-care practice. For example, you could:

• Cook a nutritious meal or enjoy some comfort food
• Move your body
• Spend time in nature
• Rest and relax
• Work on a hobby
• Practice meditation or yoga

When to seek professional support

If persistent boredom is disrupting your life or causing distress, it may be time to reach out for professional support. A therapist can help you explore potential root causes of this feeling and offer tools for addressing them. For example, a counselor might:

• Screen you for depression and provide treatment if applicable
• Help you process past trauma or difficult feelings
• Guide you in learning more about yourself and your relationship to your own thoughts, your productivity, etc.
• Provide tips for coping with boredom and other uncomfortable feelings

Keep in mind that you don’t have to be experiencing mental health symptoms or distress to meet with a therapist. They can act as a helpful resource for understanding yourself, building resilience, and cultivating strong coping mechanisms. Research suggests that around three-quarters of those who engage in therapy benefit from it in some way.

How to connect with a therapist online

Boredom can sometimes stem from depression symptoms, which may make it difficult to leave the house and commute to in-person therapy appointments. If you’re looking for a more convenient option for care, consider online therapy.

With an online counseling platform like BetterHelp, you can get matched with a licensed therapist based on your answers to an onboarding questionnaire. If the provider you’re matched with doesn’t seem like the right fit, you can switch at any time for no additional cost. This process can make it easier for you to find a therapist you feel comfortable opening up to.

Once you’ve been connected with a provider, you can meet with them virtually via video, phone, or live chat over the course of a few weeks, months, or however long you need. That means you can attend sessions from the comfort of home or anywhere you have an internet connection.

What the research says about online therapy

In recent years, the popularity of online counseling has grown, as has the body of research surrounding its effectiveness. Much of this research suggests that online therapy can often be a suitable alternative to in-person therapy. For example, a 2025 meta-analysis reports that online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may often be “at least as effective and efficacious” as face-to-face CBT.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy that alters someone's perceptions of their behaviors, thoughts, and moods. Through online platforms like BetterHelp, there are many therapists available who have experience practicing CBT and other methods to meet for a variety of client needs.