Recent Posts
Culture July 21, 2017
There's no shame in coloring between the lines.
Coloring isn’t just for kids anymore.
The Washington Post estimated that over 12 million adult coloring books were sold in the United States in 2015. And adults are returning to this childhood activity for good reason.
Coloring pages are a fun creative outlet, but that’s not all they’re good for. This activity has concrete mental and emotional health benefits.
Forget your bills and realities of adulting for a moment and break out the Crayola. Here are some reasons to embrace your inner artist.
The American Art Therapy Association conducted a study with 84 college students that measured how their anxiety levels changed while coloring. They found that the students’ blood pressure was reduced when they colored a complicated mandala pattern, but was not impacted when they used a blank page.
Medical Daily also reported that the repetitive motions of coloring can be therapeutic for individuals suffering from mental disorders such as anxiety or PTSD. In fact, the author of “Color Me Calm, Color Me Happy, and Color Me Stress-Free” Lacy Mucklow told USA Today, “There is something about the mandala that is particularly soothing for people.”
Why is this the case? Psychologist Gloria Martinez Ayala told The Huffington Post that coloring “incorporates the areas of the cerebral cortex involved in vision and fine motor skills. The relaxation that it provides lowers the activity of the amygdala, a basic part of our brain involved in controlling emotion that is affected by stress.”
Performing this danger-free activity essentially calms down the fight-or-flight portion of the brain.
Coloring helps create mindfulness because focusing on a simple task can be a distraction from negative thoughts. Believe it or not, daily use of adult coloring pages can help with a variety of mental health disorders. CNN reported that it can be useful for individuals with eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders and addiction.
After using an adult coloring book for the first time, Julie Beck told The Atlantic, “As someone who can’t sit and breathe deeply and try to calm my thoughts for even 30 seconds without getting itchy all over, it’s nice to have something other than meditation that still feels meditative.”
Investing time and energy into creating art can be an outlet for self-expression that is healthy and productive. It helps control some mental illness triggers such as stress and boredom. Coloring can be a bridge to replace self-destructive habits with a safe activity that results in something beautiful.
Adult coloring pages put both sides of the brain to work. Coloring detailed and complicated designs work fine motor skills in the left and right side of the brain. It is all about joining the practical and imaginative elements of ourselves together.
According to Daily Health Post, “When you color, you use both left and right sides of the brain. The right side of the brain is engaged to choose the colors, and the left side is engaged to control your motions and coordination as you color.”
Most of us utilize one side of our brains over the other, so coloring can be a great tool to expand your mind, literally. Practicing coloring every day can be helpful for people in creative and logistical professions alike.
Using adult coloring pages activates the frontal lobes of the brain. That’s right, coloring has intellectual benefits as well. Focusing on what colors should go where on an intricate design nourishes the focus and concentration portion of the brain. Planning out color schemes also helps to improve organization and problem-solving skills.
The Alternative Daily noted that using adult coloring pages “aids the development of fine motor skills, which are needed to stay within the lines. Precision and attention to detail are both important traits that can be learned from coloring.”
The power of nostalgia cannot be underrated when it comes to adult coloring pages. The everyday stresses and responsibilities that come with adulthood make many long for their childhood.
A study conducted in 2012 by Clay Routledge, Ph.D and his fellow researchers found that “nostalgia enhances psychological health and well-being, and nostalgia promotes adaptive psychological functioning among individuals at risk for poor mental health.”
The study also found that nostalgia can boost someone’s mood and relieve stress. Instead of turning on the TV, use adult coloring pages to teleport back to the good old days when life wasn’t so complicated.
Adult coloring pages are not just a fun pastime. The practice of coloring can help ease anxiety, improve organizational skills and balance both sides of the brain. Plus, it’s just plain fun.
With all the responsibilities and stress that is involved in adulthood, it’s nice to check out with a simple activity. Besides, coloring gives users a chance to express themselves and bring back something joyful from childhood.
