October 22, 2024
Boredom causes a heightened stress response in impulsive people, as evidenced by the elevated cortisol levels documented in new research published in Physiology & Behavior.1 The research deepens the scientific community’s understanding of the interplay between impulsivity and boredom, suggesting that this relationship may be mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
“This research suggests that the lived experience of boredom feels more intense and aversive for people who are highly impulsive, transforming into an overwhelming need to escape that boredom,” explained Matt Parker, Ph.D., the study’s senior author and a neuroscientist at the University of Surrey.
The research comprised two studies. The first, in which participants completed a dull task and self-reported levels of boredom, confirmed previous findings that individuals who identify as impulsive are more prone to boredom than are others. 2, 3,4,5
In the second study, researchers tested the levels of salivary cortisol in a portion of these participants, both before and after they completed the boring task. They found that cortisol levels were higher in those who had trait impulsivity, indicating activation of the HPA axis.
These studies help researchers more fully understand the feedback loop that can occur between impulsivity, stress, and boredom. Not only are highly impulsive people more prone to boredom, but boredom often leads to impulsivity 6 and to a stress response.7 Stress, in turn, increases impulsivity, keeping the cycle in motion.
“These findings offer promise for personalized interventions, designed for high-impulsivity individuals, to alleviate the negative impacts of boredom and potentially break the identified feedback loop,” explained the study’s authors.
Risks of Chronic Stress Response
The study’s authors write that boredom remains understudied in psychiatric research despite having “significant implications for mental health, and cognitive functioning.” In highly impulsive people, Parker explains, the intense drive to avoid boredom leads to maladaptive coping strategies including risk-taking behaviors and substance use, which sometimes alleviate boredom and reduce stress in the short term, but rarely in the long term.
This, combined with the evidence of a heightened stress response associated with boredom in impulsive people, underlines the importance of discovering effective interventions. “If people undergo chronic stress over a long period of time, and there is prolonged activation of that HPA axis, there is increased risk for cardiovascular disease, weakened immune function, and mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression,” Parker said. “The best interventions may focus on stress-management techniques, things that are designed to reduce stress axis response.”
The new studies offer insight into an experience described by ADDitude readers who call ADHD boredom intensely aversive and acutely stressful.
“I experience boredom as a profound inner restlessness,” said Jenn, an ADDitude reader in Missouri. “It isn’t just like I want to do something else; it’s like I must do something else. It’s like the restlessness is crawling under my skin.”
“Boredom feels like there is this engine running inside of me telling me to push on the gas pedal but the brakes are on, so there is smoke coming from my car,” said another ADDitude reader, Marta, from the United Kingdom.
Natalie, a reader in Pennsylvania, said: “Boredom translates to agitation, physical discomfort in my own skin, anxiety, and feeling lost — panicked, trapped-in-a-horror-movie-and-can’t-find-the-exit lost.”
Sources
1J.M.Clay, J.I. Badariotti, N. Kozhushko, M.O. Parker, HPA activity mediates the link between trait impulsivity and boredom, Physiology & Behavior, 284 (2024), 114637, ISSN 0031-9384, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114637.
2C.J. Gerritsen, M.E. Toplak, J. Sciaraffa, J. Eastwood. I can’t get no satisfaction: Potential causes of boredom. Conscious Cogn, 27 (2014), pp. 27-41, 10.1016/j.concog.2013.10.001
3J. Isacescu, A.A. Struk, J. Danckert. Cognitive and affective predictors of boredom proneness. Cogn Emot, 31 (2017), pp. 1741-1748, 10.1080/02699931.2016.1259995
4A.A. Struk, A.A. Scholer, J. Danckert. A self-regulatory approach to understanding boredom proneness. Cogn Emot, 30 (2016), pp. 1388-1401, 10.1080/02699931.2015.1064363
5J.D. Watt, S.J. Vodanovich.Relationship between boredom proneness and impulsivity. Psychol Rep, 70 (1992), pp. 688-690, 10.2466/pr0.1992.70.3.688
6A.B. Moynihan, E.R. Igou, W.A.P. van Tilburg. Boredom increases impulsiveness: A meaning-regulation perspective. Soc Psychol, 48 (2017), pp. 293-309, 10.1027/1864-9335/a000317
7A.A. Moustafa, R. Tindle, D. Frydecka, B. Misiak. Impulsivity and its relationship with anxiety, depression and stress. Compr Psychiatry, 74 (2017), pp. 173-179, 10.1016/j.comppsych.2017.01.013