Consumed by Boredom: Food Choice Motivation and Weight Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Boredom is an established cause and correlate of eating behavior. Yet, existing work offers a scattered range of plausible motivations for why this is. We examined among 302 people representative of the adult UK population what motivations they had for selecting food during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this related to boredom. As predicted, bored people choose food less for health reasons and more for convenience. Boredom reduced ethical and ‘natural content’ motivations for selecting food and was not associated with choosing food to regulate one’s mood or to experience unfamiliarity. Boredom was also associated with greater absolute changes in weight over the course of the pandemic. Boredom did not predict weight gains or losses overall. These findings offer insights into the role that boredom plays in eating motivations in particular and health-relevant outcomes in general.

Disentangling boredom from depression using the phenomenology and content of involuntary autobiographical memories

“…Documenting and differentiating relations between these two affective states is important. First, boredom and depression share a large number of problematic correlates, such as substance use 20 , 21 , poorer diet and exercise 64 , social withdrawal and loneliness 65 , problem gambling 66 , and even suicidal ideation 67 . Combatting these problematic outcomes requires a nuanced understanding of their causes.…”

Boredom in the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Interestingly, there are potential real-world outcomes (beyond merely rule breaking) for this struggle to entertain oneself. Van Tilburg and colleagues [ 18 ] showed that ratings of boredom during the pandemic were associated with increased weight gain. Interestingly, in their sample, the eating behaviour was driven by convenience as opposed to health-related choices.…”