A new trend is developing. Adults are meeting in groups, socially, or at work with crayons. Yes, you read that correctly, they are meeting to color. It turns out that sales of adult coloring books are exploding, and some doctors are making the case that coloring can actually help to relieve stress and anxiety in adults.
Sales of adult coloring books are skyrocketing. Johanna Ashford’s “Secret Garden” sold 1.4 million copies worldwide. Take a look at Amazons Top 10 list of books sold includes several adult coloring books.
Some of the fans of adult coloring books say they meet in groups, or color regularly on their own. The common effect is that they say it helps people to forget their concerns (temporarily). They are not looking at an electronic device, not trying to ‘keep up’ on Facebook or instagram.
One preschool teacher said coloring actually improved her high blood pressure by including nightly coloring sessions after walking each day. Another woman who has epilepsy says coloring helps her to use her hands and not ‘jerk’ they way they would with normal daily tasks.
Psychologists including Antoni Martinez says it helps people to focus on coloring the image instead of their worries. Psychologist Gloria Martinez Ayala says “This 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, the basic part of the brain involved in controlling emotion that is effected by stress.” She also says it may be effective because it was something you did as a child, which for most was a care-free, happy period in your life.
Understanding the positive link in our brains, along with demonstrated health benefits; combined with the fact that adult coloring book sales are exploding; we can conclude that adult coloring really does relieve stress and anxiety. Why not try it yourself- check out this free download.
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It is not surprising that adults are leaning more towards non-technological stress relievers. I wonder what it will be like when people of our generation (tech-lovers) become adults. Will we continue to depend on technology or will be turn to non-technological stress relievers as well? Facebook, twitter, instagram can actually cause stress. The stress comes from having your private life made public, it is very easy to learn everything about everyone through social media and cyber-bullying.
While scrolling through the recent blog posts, I had to stop and analyze the claim that coloring can reduce stress and anxiety in adults. Over the summer I worked as a lifeguard at a local children’s camp. The lifeguard office contained many resources that the campers could use to entertain themselves; including many coloring books. I often found myself coloring pictures in these books, whether it was with the kids or by myself during my breaks. I took a strong liking in coloring during my shifts because it allowed me to relax and push my future worries aside. I decided to research the topic myself and found many studies concluding that coloring can indeed strengthen your focus and shift your attention back to a relaxed state. Aurora University even provides a step by step guide to meditative coloring. There is definitely a correlation between meditative coloring and stress relief, but in order to determine a direct causation one would need to conduct a controlled and well done experiment. For example we could randomly assign 50 adults to a control group (subjects who would not use coloring books), and 50 adults to an experimental group (subjects who would color in coloring books for 30 minutes a day for a month) . Both groups stress levels would be tested before and after the experiment began. At the end of the study the differences in stress levels for both groups would be compared and analyzed. This way we could see the true causation between coloring and reduced stress levels and potentially establish a mechanism.
I agree with your post 100%. I always find myself stressed, and one of the things I like to do is color. I work as a lifeguard for my summer job and I have noticed a few moms coloring during the day while their kids were playing in the pool. I thought it was odd for them, but once I started doing it I truly saw how effective it is. It is interesting in something that we see as so childish and simple can do so much for stress relieving. Even a lot of universities have been recommending coloring for stress relief (https://www.uhs.uga.edu/stress/relax.html and http://www.aurora.edu/student-life/campus-services/wellness/toolbox/stress-relief/meditative-coloring.html#.VeyLHmTBzGc). Maybe Penn State will soon offer a coloring class! 🙂
As someone who struggles with handling stress and anxiety effectively, I was prompted to try coloring or drawing in high-stress times. Whenever I would color I would gradually feel calmer and more at ease with whatever current situation was occurring. I thought that I was feeling that way because my mind was taken off of the current issue and also I was focusing on something intricate, which I feel is still true. But, it’s interesting to find that there is truly some science behind the act of coloring and it’s reduction in stress, and in this regard it states it has something to do with the cerebral cortex. I think this was overall a really good topic to discuss because these coloring books are certainly on the rise.
This is such a good topic, because I have been wondering if it actually helps. I’ve noticed the new trend of adult coloring books, and actually bought myself one a few months back. I used it on an 8 hour plane ride, and found it pretty entertaining. From my personal experience, I have felt that it is really relaxing, because it is such a basic activity, you can be creative with it, and you can listen to music at the same time. At the same time, it is a great distractor to any stresses in life. I think its a really cool new trend!! It is really taking off globally, as seen in this article talking about its effects on British adults. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/11413517/Adults-turn-to-colouring-books-to-fight-stress.html
This is a very interesting topic, and with all the stress and commotion going on in todays society i have no doubt that a simple task like coloring can help relieve tension in adults. Here are 23 other scientifically proven ways adults relieve stress http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/17/reduce-stress-research_n_2884876.html