The Link Between ADHD and Boredom

Feeling bored usually occurs when nothing in your environment captures your interest or attention. It can quickly affect your body and emotions, causing restlessness, fatigue, and a plummeting mood. Boredom is often a significant concern for people with ADHD, who often go to great lengths to avoid it.

Common Signs of Boredom

• Impulsively hanging up the phone if put on hold, even in the middle of resolving an important issue.
• Eating something, despite not feeling hungry.
• Phoning someone not particularly liked, just to have someone to talk to.
• Delaying going to bed until utterly exhausted to avoid lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep.
• Creating an argument with a service provider or loved one.
• Engaging in potentially dangerous activities, such as overtaking another driver when not completely safe because driving behind them is boring.

The opposite of bored is being interested, energized, and cheerful.

Adults with ADHD constantly seek new or stimulating things. When interested in something, the executive functions of their brains click into gear, and things flow smoothly. However, when a task is dull or mundane, staying engaged mentally becomes challenging, leading to negative consequences like daytime sleepiness, where falling asleep in the middle of an activity occurs despite getting enough sleep the night before. Some people with ADHD may even experience depression if their environment is not stimulating.

How to Avoid Boredom

• Know yourself and your favorite avoidance techniques: Identify the activities you turn to when bored and design your life around these things to make each day interesting. This includes your job, hobbies, and mundane tasks like housework.

• Be prepared: Life is full of delays, so have a variety of activities on hand. For example, if flying, take a visual magazine, an engrossing book, and a puzzle book. Don't leave things to chance and hope for a good movie or entertaining seatmate.

• Use a timer: It can make even the dullest things interesting, creating a sense of urgency and excitement. Play games with yourself, like trying to do all the washing up in 15 minutes.

• Balance: It's good to have the self-awareness to avoid boredom, but don't become too fearful of it, as accidents can happen. Learning to sit with boredom for a few moments is empowering.

• Practice meditation and exercise: These daily habits can help you endure unexpected boring parts of your day.

How to Tolerate Boredom

• Find a focus: During boredom, look for something to focus on, like a problem that needs solving. Creating a mental focus can help keep your mind off boredom and use your time constructively.

• Practice mindfulness: Engage in brief moments of mindful thought, paying attention to how you feel and focusing on your own thoughts and breathing. If your mind wanders, bring your attention back to the present moment.

• Daydream: If truly bored with a dull, daily task, try letting your mind wander. This allows you to think about things that bring you joy or spark your interest while still completing those monotonous jobs that simply need to get done.

A Word From Verywell

ADHD can make dealing with boredom particularly difficult, but finding ways to cope with dull moments can help. Being prepared can be one of the best tools for coping with boredom.

When you have ADHD, keeping your attention on a task often means it needs to be something you are interested in, want, or find challenging. When boredom hits, turning to an activity you enjoy or presents a challenge can help give your brain the stimulation it needs.