Boredom eating looks more like escaping monotony than seeking a treat#
Eating out of boredom is real and measurable, and it is the single most commonly endorsed form of "emotional" eating in at least one questionnaire study. In lab experiments, people made bored eat more snacks than the same people in a neutral condition — and in one of them, bored participants were also more willing to give themselves electric shocks, which suggests the driver is escaping monotony rather than wanting a treat. The counters that fit that mechanism are unglamorous: remove the snack from the boring situation, give the moment something else to do, and plan a snack for when boredom predictably hits.
The evidence has limits, and they are worth knowing before you build a plan around it. Most studies are small, use students, and last an hour. At least one careful recent experiment found no boredom effect at all. Some experiments found more snacking during boredom; another found none. That makes changing your usual snacking situation a reasonable experiment rather than a guaranteed fix.
Boredom is the most-endorsed eating trigger in the questionnaires#
The first clue came from asking people. When 139 undergraduates answered open-ended questions about what they do when they feel various emotions, they reported eating in response to boredom more often than in response to any other emotion. On the 25-item Emotional Eating Scale extended with six boredom items, "eating when bored" was the single most frequently endorsed item, and factor analysis showed boredom eating behaved as a distinct construct separate from eating in response to other negative emotions1.
A larger survey of 552 college students found that proneness to boredom and difficulty regulating emotions each predicted inappropriate eating, including eating in response to boredom, other negative emotions and external cues2. Both studies rely on self-report in young adults, so they establish that boredom eating is common and recognizable, not how much it adds to anyone's day. Why boredom sits awkwardly inside the broader emotional-eating label is covered in emotional hunger vs physical hunger.
What the experiments found#
Self-report can mislead, so the stronger evidence comes from experiments that induce boredom and quietly weigh what people eat.
| Study | Design | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Havermans et al., 2015 | 30 people, 1 h of a varied documentary vs 1 h of one clip on repeat, M&Ms available; parallel shock experiment | More M&Ms eaten when bored; more self-administered shocks when bored |
| Moynihan et al., 2015 | Week-long diary plus two lab experiments | Boredom predicted calorie intake in the diary; boredom raised desire for snacks, especially in highly self-aware people |
| Meng et al., 2026 | 142 people randomized to boredom, sadness or neutral video; then 96 people tracked 4×/day for 7 days | Bored group ate more potato chips than both sad and neutral groups; in daily life, snacking relieved boredom briefly but raised eating desire |
| Ahlich et al., 2026 | 187 people, 30 min boredom vs neutral, chocolate, crackers and chips available | No effect of boredom on total or food-specific intake |
The Havermans design is the most revealing. The same 30 participants watched an hour of a documentary once, and an hour of a single clip on loop once. When bored, they ate more M&Ms. In a separate experiment with another 30 participants, people more readily gave themselves brief electric shocks during the boring session. The authors concluded that eating when bored "is not driven by an increased desire for satisfying incentive stimulation, but mainly by the drive to escape monotony" — a strong reading of a small study, but the shock result is hard to explain any other way.
Bored people also shocked themselves more. The snack is a way out of the moment, not a reward in it.
The Moynihan studies add a nuance: in one experiment, bored participants high in self-awareness ate more unhealthy food but also more of an "exciting" healthy option — but not more of an unexciting healthy one. Stimulation seems to be what boredom is shopping for, and a crunchy or flavorful alternative can partly stand in for a candy bar.
The null result matters#
The 2026 experiment by Ahlich and colleagues is the one to weigh against the others. It was larger than the classic studies (187 participants), it covertly measured intake of three snack types, and boredom did not change how much anyone ate — nor did interoceptive awareness moderate it. The authors framed the finding as part of "a growing body of research questioning the predictive validity of self-reported emotional eating."
The difference between the studies is not easy to pin on a single cause. The boredom inductions varied in length (30 minutes versus an hour), in content, and in what food was on offer, and the Ahlich study gave participants a water preload first. What the split does support is a modest claim: boredom raises snacking in some people and some settings, and it is not an unavoidable reflex. That is why the fixes below target situations rather than personality.
In daily life, snacking tracks both boredom relief and desire to eat#
The daily-life part of the Meng study tracked 96 people four times a day for a week, recording boredom, desire to eat and snacking. Snacking directly reduced boredom in the moment, but it also increased boredom indirectly by raising the desire to eat — "creating a potentially problematic cycle." People who were more bored overall reported more desire to eat and slightly more snacking5.
Four check-ins a day can't prove that one snack causes the next urge, but the pattern fits a common experience: boredom snacks rarely stop at one. It is also why boredom snacks are among the easiest calories to forget, alongside the other small, unremarked eating covered in the forgotten calories.
What helps#
The evidence points at situations, not willpower. The first two items apply the experimental findings directly; the last three are practical guidance.
- Use an if-then plan. Implementation intentions — pre-decided "if situation X, then I do Y" plans — have a meta-analytic record in eating. A meta-analysis of 23 studies found a larger effect for adding healthy foods (d = 0.51) than for reducing unhealthy eating (d = 0.29); none tested boredom eating specifically7. A boredom version: "If I notice I'm looking for a snack because I'm bored, I take a five-minute break away from my desk. If I'm actually hungry, I eat."
- Offer the stimulation boredom is shopping for. Given the Moynihan finding, a more exciting healthy option (spiced chickpeas, crunchy vegetables with a strong dip, fruit you actually like) is a better substitute than a bland one.
- Take the food out of the boring room. If the long call, the commute or the TV binge is where you graze, keep snacks out of arm's reach there and eat them at a table instead.
- Schedule the snack for the predictable slump. If the 3pm lull or the empty evening is when boredom hits, plan a portion for that time — the same logic applied to evenings in how to stop late-night eating, and to snacks generally in is snacking sabotaging you.
- Name it before you eat it. A three-word note — "bored, 3pm, crackers" — does two things: it interrupts the automatic reach, and after a week it shows you whether boredom is really your pattern or a label you borrowed.
FAQ#
Why do I eat when I'm bored even if I'm not hungry?#
Experiments suggest bored eating is largely a way of escaping monotony rather than a response to hunger. In one study, bored participants ate more M&Ms and also gave themselves more electric shocks, as if any stimulation would do.
Is boredom eating a type of emotional eating?#
Partly. In one questionnaire study, "eating when bored" was the most endorsed emotional-eating item, but boredom behaved as a separate factor from eating in response to other negative emotions.
Does every study show that boredom makes people eat more?#
No. A 2026 experiment with 187 participants found no effect of a 30-minute boredom induction on snack intake. Why its result differs from earlier experiments is still unclear.
What should I eat when I'm bored?#
If you are going to eat, a planned portion of something flavorful or crunchy that you enjoy is a better choice than a bland option, because boredom appears to seek stimulation. Better still is changing the situation so food is not the only stimulation available.
Sources#
- Koball et al., 2012
- Crockett et al., 2015
- Havermans et al., 2015
- Moynihan et al., 2015
- Meng et al., 2026
- Ahlich et al., 2026
- Adriaanse et al., 2011
Source: BurnWeek — "Boredom eating: why it happens and what helps", https://burnweek.fit/blog/boredom-eating/. Licensed CC BY 4.0: free to quote or reuse with a link to this page.
