Smoking out of boredom?

Why keeping busy is so important

If you’re guilty of smoking out of boredom, you’re not alone. It helps to pass the time. It’s something to do with your hands. What else is there to do? Do these reasons for smoking sound familiar?

Take a look at the list below. Do any of the following reasons sound like you, the way you feel and how you react when you find yourself with nothing to do? Finding ways to keep your mind and your hands busy can help you beat this smoking trigger. Our trained telephone advisers can help you find ways that work for you.

Boredom is an emotional trigger

It may be that boredom acts as an emotional trigger for you. This means that whenever you get that ‘bored feeling’, your brain immediately craves a cigarette.

You’re looking for a distraction

When you’re busy and you’re constantly doing things, your hands don’t feel lost without a cigarette. But when you stop, you want one. You know you want to stop smoking. The trick is to find something else to do that distracts you when you feel at a loose end.

Too much time to think

As soon as you have the time to think about smoking, you’re in a downward spiral. Your thoughts become focused on cravings instead of what you can do to avoid them or how great your life will be once you have quit. If this is the case then you might be smoking because you have too much time to think.

It’s something to do

One of the most common reasons for smoking when you’re bored is that it’s just something to do. When it feels like there is nothing to do and you need to pass the time, you pick up a cigarette. You find yourself smoking less on busier days or at times when there is more going on? Or perhaps you smoke more when you are with other smokers? If this is the case it sounds like you are smoking because it is simply something to do.

In your own company

You might also smoke when you’re bored because you are on your own with nothing to distract you. Finding something that occupies your hands like preparing a meal, tackling a project that you’ve been avoiding, calling a non-smoking friend to go for a walk or picking up the phone to one of our trained Stop Smoking helpline advisers are just a few ways to tackle this.

It’s just a habit

If you’re smoking when you’re bored it might be that this is just a habit that you’re used to. You sit down on the sofa with nothing to do, so you smoke. Could it be that it’s time to form some new, more healthy habits? If so, why not learn about the benefits of quitting smoking to make the change your body deserves?”

If these reasons to smoke sound familiar it’s likely that you are smoking out of boredom. Recognising that this is something that you do is an important step to doing something about it. That might be finding a new hobby or getting back to an old one. If you’d like to dig deeper into why you smoke when you are bored and find ways to tackle it our trained telephone advisers are just a phone call away.

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