Is Boredom Wrecking Your Diet?

College campuses provide ample opportunities to overeat with their endless cafeteria buffets, late-night cafes and 24-hour delivery services, not to mention the personal stash under every dorm bed.

And while many people like to blame the high calorie food and drink so readily available for the weight gain seen among students, it may be boredom that leads the proverbial horse to trough.

No one actually has ever died of boredom, but many will swear to having come close, and nearly everyone knows the symptoms. They can appear quite suddenly, maybe on a Tuesday afternoon when you have no classes, but everyone in your suite does, and you start thinking about how good some nachos with cheese would taste. Sometimes the symptoms of boredom creep up on you, such as over a long weekend when you’re trapped on campus in the dead of winter and eventually eat everything in the dorm kitchen.

The site of the affliction is the mind, or more accurately, the imagination, of the sufferer. And for many college students, in spite of all the course work, parties, sporting events, gossiping, clubbing, wardrobe decisions, Internet shopping, career planning and text messaging you have to distract you, boredom does occasionally strike.

When it does, it is often mistaken for hunger. Boredom can also be a cover for procrastination. Either way, food fantasies are one of the tell-tale signs that you’re coming down with it, and you need to recognize the underlying cause before you raid the refrigerator…or start ordering take-out or trudge through the rain with your meal card in search of a frozen yogurt machine.

If you should encounter someone with the symptoms of boredom, it is vital that you isolate yourself from her as quickly as possible because the condition will soon advance to the more contagious stage of the disease, eating for a cure. That is when you will hear laments such as these:

That is why it is important not to spend too much time around someone who is bored or you’ll be sharing her misery.

Since eating is very stimulating, it does seem like a perfect cure for boredom. But eating for entertainment only makes the condition worse. That is because when you have finished the first “dose” of eating you will still be bored, plus you’ll feel lousy for having eaten so much.

Whether it is you or your buds who are afflicted, the treatment requires that you think about something you would like to do, rather than something you would like to eat, to quickly get the condition under control. And by focusing on fun instead of food, you can actually have a good time while eradicating boredom

If you are bored and have no one to play with nor the time, money or means to have fun, you can always distract your self with chores. They may be unpleasant, but there are always plenty of them on your “to do” list and most can be done for free. Plus, when you pick something off the list, you can effectively treat the boredom while solving another messy problem, like no clean laundry.

10 TIME-HONORED TREATMENTS FOR BOREDOM

1.Type all the lecture notes for one of your class.

2. Download an audio podcast to your iPod and listen to it while cleaning your apartment or taking a long walk.
3. Complete the application for a summer job.

4.Download, sort, label and file all the photos on your digital camera.

5. Transition your wardrobe from winter to summer (goodbye scarves, hello tank tops).

6. Write a long, newsy letter to a grandparent or a friend who you've lost touch with.

7. Update your resume.

8. Unpack your suitcase from spring break.

9. Start writing that term paper due net month.

10. Do your laundry.

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Robyn Flipse, MS, RD

Author, Fighting the Freshman Fifteen

Available at www.FreshmanFifteenBook.com

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