Boredom leads to eating junk food

Eating to alleviate boredom

Boredom drives junk-food cravings. This is the conclusion of research by Dr Sandi Mann, Faye Ibbitson and Ben Edwards from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

How boredom affects food choices

The researchers conducted two studies of boredom and food choices.

In the first, they asked 52 participants to complete a questionnaire on their food preferences before and after completing the boredom-inducing task of repeatedly copying the same group of letters.

They found that people were more likely to express a preference for unhealthy foods like crisps, sweets and fatty fast foods after completing the boring task.

In the second study they asked 45 participants to watch either a boring or a funny video, during which a range of healthy and unhealthy snacks were available.

The bowls were weighed before and after each trial to measure how much of each snack had been eaten. Participants who had watched the boring video ate significantly more unhealthy food.

Boredom affects the brain

"These results are in line with previous research suggesting that we crave fatty, salty and sugary foods when we are bored. This strengthens the theory that boredom is related to low levels of the stimulating brain chemical dopamine and that people try to boost this by eating fat and sugar if they cannot alleviate their boredom in some other way,” said Dr Mann.

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