Do you reach for your phone the moment life goes quiet? If sitting with your thoughts feels uncomfortable you're not alone.

Welcome to the Pain Free Living Podcast with Bob Allen, osteopath and health educator, and Clare Elsby, therapy coach.

In this episode, you'll find out why boredom isn't something to be afraid of. Bob and Clare explain why our brains naturally seek distraction, how boredom can lead to overthinking and catastrophising, and why we're so easily drawn into endless scrolling, gaming and social media.

You'll learn the difference between the short-lived dopamine "reward" that keeps us chasing the next notification and the longer-lasting sense of wellbeing linked to serotonin. We also explore why many of us, who grew up without smartphones, may have lost the ability to simply sit and think.

Most importantly, you'll find practical ways to break the cycle. Reading, gardening, walking, music, crafts and other hobbies don't just fill time, they can improve your creativity, emotional wellbeing and even help you manage stress and persistent pain.

If this episode changes the way you think about boredom, leave a comment and tell us what helps you switch off. Your experience could inspire someone else to live a healthier, happier life.

5 Key Takeaways

• Boredom gives your brain time to recharge and think creatively.
• Constant phone use and social media encourage us to chase short-lived dopamine rewards.
• Understanding overthinking and catastrophising can reduce unnecessary stress.
• Meaningful hobbies provide healthier, longer-lasting satisfaction than endless scrolling.
• Allowing yourself to be bored occasionally can improve your creativity, resilience and overall wellbeing.

Useful Resources

Why you should care about the Region Beta Paradox - https://youtu.be/gDCOHiP5EQY

About Your Hosts

Bob Allen is an osteopath, patient educator, podcast host, and public speaker with over 17 years' experience helping people understand pain, movement, and recovery. Drawing on both healthcare and a previous 20-year career in IT project management, Bob specialises in translating complex health topics into practical advice that people can use in everyday life.

Clare Elsby is an experienced therapy coach who uses positive psychology together with a background in accountancy to give her a unique perspective on the relationship between mindset, behaviour, and life challenges.

Disclaimer: Please note that any tips or advice given in this podcast does not constitute medical, healthcare or any other form of professional advice. If you have health or other issues, please seek advice specific to your circumstances from a qualified healthcare, medical, or other relevant professional.

Learn More

📖 Bob's Story: https://bit.ly/BobsOsteoStory

🌱 Clare Elsby: https://www.clareelsby.com/

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🌐 Social Media & Podcast Platforms: https://linktr.ee/Painfreeliving

Welcome to another episode of the Pain Free Living Podcast with myself and Bob.

This one is about boredom.

So I'm just gonna sit quietly for a minute.

No, we're not.

We're gonna talk about boredom.

Yeah, be worried we didn't talk about that bit.

But anyway, sorry, but that's an example, you see.

So we, as humans, we don't generally like, be bored.

And I'm going to show my age now, but I always remember Sunday afternoons as a child.

I used to be so bored because there was nothing to do and I find it physically painful.

Not physically painful, I don't think.

So what are we doing?

We call psychologists in psychology, we call it sitting with our discomfort.

But actually I was having to sit with my own thoughts.

And actually we don't really like doing that as humans.

We find that really challenging.

And that's because our brains tend to be predisposed to think on the negative side of things.

And therefore the danger is with this is that we are.

We tend to ruminate.

So we'll get a thought in our head and then we'll.

It'll go round and round and round and that will ruminate and then if we're left alone for long enough, we could get to the catastrophizing stage and we just don't like it.

So we will do just to buy anything to avoid sitting in discomfort.

And one of the things that we, our brains actively search for, because it doesn't like this, is we look for dopamine.

Over to you, Bob.

Thank you, Claire.

I was just going to throw in a little bit about catastrophizing because that's something I see quite a lot.

And it's become even more prevalent with ChatGPT than it was with Dr. Google.

So.

So where somebody has low back pain, they then worry about, will I ever be able to walk again?

Will I ever be able to move?

Will I ever be able to do anything?

Because the pain is so excruciating, where somebody has a headache and they Google headache and they find that the symptoms they've got are akin to a brain tumor or whatever it is.

So people will always assume the worst.

It's kind of, it's.

It's kind of a protective mechanism because if you assume it's the worst thing, then you then that will reinforce your need to go out and find out what it is and get it treated.

Yeah.

There's a condition called the region beta paradox, which we've done a whole episode on.

So I'll put a link in the show.

Notes so that I haven't got time to cover it here.

But that's all about do you tolerate something or you can tolerate something to a certain level, but if the pain you're experiencing, if the experience that you're having makes you do something about it, then you will.

So we are naturally predisposed to catastrophizing any kind of.

Whether it's a physical issue, physical health issue or a mental health issue.

As Claire was talking about.

There's this thing called dopamine which does get a lot of press, deservedly so because dopamine is, it's kind of a feel good hormone.

So it's, it's, it's one of those hormones that if you actively find something you enjoy doing, then you will get a hit of dopamine from, from doing that, whatever that thing is.

The downside of getting that hit of dopamine is that it is quite short lived.

Yeah.

So dopamine is one is the reason why we go while we play games because the games are designed to give us little dopamine hits and the more we play the game, the more dopamine hits we get.

Dopamine hits aren't quite pleasant, but because they are short lived, you will get, you'll get a dopamine hit.

And it's one of the reasons why phone to sell addictive as well and why scrolling is so addictive.

Because you, you want to see what comes next.

You want to see what comes next and if it's something that, that you enjoy, put a little hit of dopamine there.

If it's a post that you put on there and you've got 10,000 views and likes for it, there's a little dopamine hit there.

And the problem with it is because it is short lived, you want to get another one and then you want to get another one.

And the other downside is that you build up a tolerance to the dopamine.

So where you would get a hit here, after a while you need to do more to get the same effects and after a while you need to do more to get the same effects.

So you end up in this spiral of you want to keep getting those dopamine hits so you keep doing whatever it is that you are doing to get that dopamine.

It could be exercise, it could be drugs, it could be alcohol.

All of those things can kind of reinforce those dopamine hits and it's, and it can become addictive and it's one of the things that is a factor in developing an addiction.

Because you're constantly chasing that dopamine hit the counter to that is something called serotonin.

Now serotonin is, it has a similar feel good effect to dopamine, but serotonin is longer lived and it's what we should be aiming for rather than the dopamine hit.

So it's about contentment, it's about feeling good about yourself.

It's about feeling good, having a good emotional response to something, but it lasts longer.

So you were less likely to be constantly chasing that hit.

It's finding that thing that you do that you enjoy, that you can continue to enjoy without constantly trying to chase whatever that thing is.

So that's kind of where the hormone aspects come in.

And yeah, I mean, when you were talking there, I was thinking, well, hobbies, you know, if you can find a hobby that fit, that's something that you really enjoy and it fits with your values, then, you know, that is a perfect way to avoid boredom because we are going to get bored.

There are times where we.

It's going to happen.

It's less now because we are all attached to our phones.

I was just going to say that's,.

That's the thing, you know, there's less, less of a chance.

And actually, you know, the hobbies now, I don't know the research, but whether actually is people doing less hobbies now or I would actually wager there's more people picking up hobbies because they don't want to be sitting on their phones.

I know I certainly do that.

I've, you know, all, all the hobbies that I would have said my granny would have done, like knitting and crocheting, gardening and everything, they're actually really good for us.

And there's a reason revival, they're making a revival and you know, reading all these things, listening to music, these are, these are the things that will distract us from the boredom and are probably healthier choices, more helpful than the synthetically derived dopamine hits on, you know, the social media or the alcohol or the drugs or whatever it may be.

Yeah, and this, and this kind of feeds back to what's going on with very, very young children today.

Back in the olden days of me and Claire, we, you had to sit around and get bored and then you found something to do, whether it was reading a book, for me, it was reading science fiction, taking apart my toys, that sort of thing.

But we had to find other things, other physical things to do.

You had to get creative.

But now one of the issues around being particularly with the very young is that they get an iPad.

So Bayes says that's green, tiny scrolling through all of that and that's still having that.

They're still chasing that dopamine.

But their brains are not developed.

Yeah.

And there's no long term studies, although I think there's more long term.

There's more studies now than there were back in.

Back when the famed racks and things were introduced.

But we know that having an iPad at a very young age can affect brain development, you know, so, yeah, chasing the dopamine hit is not a good thing.

I think we need to learn.

I think we need to remember and learn how to be bored.

Be bored.

Yeah.

And we know we're not going to like it, but there's a reason why we don't like it.

Yeah.

But if you're not bored, if you don't have that boredom, that can reduce our creativity because if you're constantly stimulated, you're not going to be sitting there going, what can I do now, then?

Oh, no, I'll draw or I'll paint or I'll use my imagination to pretend that I'm in a castle surrounded by a moat full of sharks.

Those sorts of things that we used to do, but I used to do anyway back in the day.

So, yeah, boredom is not a bad thing.

No, it's not a bad thing, but we are not very good at it.

No, no, I think that's.

That's much as I've got on boredom.

And I think that I'm gonna go quiet now.

Yeah.

And anyway, yes.

So hope you enjoyed that one.

Hope you enjoyed the silence at the end, because I hope you didn't get too bored while we were doing that.

Exactly.

And yeah.

Comments down below.

Next podcast is on the way.

And yeah, if you want to leave us five stars, then please do tell all your friends, tell all your family and see you at the next one.

Bye for now.