Why Coloring Should Be Your New Hobby?
You may have jokingly said, “I’m going to go color in my fort if you need me,” but there’s an underlying truth to this joke. Sometimes you need to shut out the world to focus on yourself. It’s important to take time for yourself – to recharge your battery. Let’s explore the fun world that awaits you in coloring.
Adult coloring is not a new concept, but it’s one many people aren’t sure they understand. Sure, coloring is fun. It reminds you of a simpler time in your life when you were a child and coloring was a fun pastime. Now it’s an escape, and it reminds you of the joy found in simplicity. What you might not know, however, is coloring in an adult coloring book is way more than a fun pastime. It’s a mental break filled with benefits designed to help you ease stress.
“Coloring Therapy”
Coloring is a type of therapy. As such, it often gets confused with “art therapy,” which is a more involved process that depends on the relationship between a client and therapist. However, coloring helps to reduce anxiety, provides focus, mental clarity, a break from negative thoughts and behaviors, provides an alternative method to meditation, improves reality orientation, fosters self-awareness, explores feelings, and a host of other benefits.
Stress and Anxiety
One of the most amazing aspects of coloring is that it drastically decreases stress and anxiety. For this reason, it can help with insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD occurs when a person experiences triggers that can bring them back to reliving a traumatic event. Coloring takes the focus off the amygdala, which is a part of the brain that’s responsible for fear. Because coloring allows for focus, it therefore gets rid of other free-floating thoughts that tend to cause stress. In addition, coloring is relaxing, which produces the opposite effect of stress. For this reason, coloring can also help with insomnia if done a few minutes before bedtime.
Promotes Healing & Happiness
Coloring helps to increase positivity by creating something truly individualistic. It also brings back happy emotions from a simpler time. Despite coloring pages that are already designed with patterns, the process of choosing colors, the color intensity, and style of blending helps to promote happiness and a sense of accomplishment. Being a kid again helps to ease the tensions of daily responsibilities, and it helps people connect with their inner child. That inner child connection is fundamental for healing any childhood trauma.
Alternative to Meditation
For people who can’t seem to get into meditation, coloring can provide the same benefits. This is because coloring takes the focus off thoughts and provides mindfulness. Mindfulness is simply the act of being present without any distractions. Getting into the flow of coloring allows the brain a way to take a break by losing track of time and simply enjoying the present moment.
Prevent Memory Loss & Increase Productivity
The old adage, “Use it or lose it,” is true for the brain. The less we use our brains, the more at-risk we are for Alzheimer’s and dementia. Coloring can help to prevent or delay the onset of dementia and other memory-loss issues. It also helps to strengthen organizational and problem-solving skills because it utilizes the frontal lobe, which is the part of the brain that’s responsible for focus, concentration, creativity, and logic. This helps people to be more productive. It has been shown that the use of color gets the creative juices flowing. This can help with writing and math.
Color Therapy: The Psychology of Color
The way we see and perceive color each day greatly impacts our lives, though it does so on a mostly subconscious level. Understanding color psychology and how colors can be useful to help relieve anxiety and stress is a way to make the most out of the atmospheres you surround yourself in each day.
Color Psychology in Marketing
Color psychology is one of the most common tricks used in marketing in order to encourage shoppers to make purchases or to remember brands and advertisements a brand is currently running. The color green is often used by companies that are trying to promote sales or work with money (such as banks or financial apps). It helps to encourage shopping while also putting trust in the brand, relating the color itself to money.
In many corporate situations, businesses choose to go with the color blue, as it symbolizes trustworthiness and professionalism. Because of the neutrality and trustworthiness associated with the color blue and businesses, companies such as Facebook and Twitter have all defaulted to using the color blue to draw in new users while keeping the attention of current ones.
Peaceful & Calming Colors
Peaceful and calming colors are also found in advertising and marketing along with plenty of pampering and soothing products on the market. Popular peaceful and calming colors include pale and light blues and greens, along with deeper muted versions of the colors. Blue and green often symbolize serenity and a sheer sense of calmness, ideal for office or bedroom settings where the goal is to either remain focused or relaxed.
Why Colors Impact Us Emotionally
Seeing various colors can evoke emotions in us due to connections with real-life experience as well as how we feel the color is interpreted. While some colors are bright or dark by nature, others are muted or paler in comparison, allowing for drastically different interpretations.
Coloring Books for Adults
Once you have a basic understanding of color psychology and how colors impact your mood, consider using coloring books for adults to help alleviate stress and worry while allowing you to relax and unwind. Adult coloring books are great ways to integrate soothing colors while calming the mind and reducing the amount of anxiety you feel at any given time. Additionally, coloring books are affordable on most budgets and provide plenty of opportunities to get creative in your downtime.
Benefits of Coloring for Mental Health
When you were a child, you probably enjoyed using crayons and a coloring book. Today, you can also enjoy this activity by using adult coloring pages instead! There are multiple mental health benefits you can receive, such as:
Eliminating Your Mental Stress
Mental stress is detrimental to your health; even leading to physical problems in extreme cases. If you are exposed to constant stress, you can potentially develop high blood pressure or digestive issues as a result. Rather than using food or alcohol to relieve your stress after a difficult workday, keep an assortment of coloring pages and beautiful crayons ready at home.
Reducing Your Anxiety Levels
If you suffer from anxiety, then find adult coloring books that focus on mindfulness so that you can feel better. The best crayon colors to reduce anxiety include shades of blue or pale pink. These soothing colors can help you to feel calmer, and you will notice that your breathing becomes slower while your symptoms of digestive stress decline. This is due to the calming effects on the amygdala – the area of the brain that controls your fight or flight response.
Relieving Your Depression
If you feel depressed, then coloring therapy can lift your mood. When you are feeling sad, you can choose brightly colored crayons and coloring pages that have a positive or happy theme. Use crayon colors such as yellow, orange, or red to stimulate the emotional center of your brain while you create artwork such as flowers or animals. While coloring, try concentrating on positive thoughts and saying positive affirmations to yourself.
Stimulating Your Own Creativity
After using adult coloring pages for a few weeks, you may notice that you are more creative. In addition to coloring with crayons, you might want to write poetry, play the piano or paint on a canvas. When it has been many years since you enjoyed creating any type of art, coloring with crayons can stimulate the part of your brain that is creative.
Preventing Dementia Conditions
If you are worried about developing dementia, try using adult coloring books and an assortment of crayons or colored pencils to create gorgeous artwork. You can find adult coloring books and pages that will stimulate the synapses in your brain to assist in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. It is easy to take these supplies with you to other locations such as when you are visiting your grandchildren or want to enjoy the outdoors.
Encourages Mindfulness
It takes a great deal of time and effort to color a page in a book made for adults. It takes precision and careful thought, which can help you manifest mindfulness. It’s a great way to help you focus. When you learn to focus and be genuinely present in the moment, you learn to be more mindful. Mindfulness helps you in other areas of your life, such as finding enjoyment in the simple things. What you might not know you can focus on your mindfulness while you color, and you can sharpen the tools you use to practice being more present in life.
Wondering Where You Can You Find Coloring Pages for Adults? Check Out these Mandala Coloring Books!
I wish you enough💜
Ginny Hanson
Health Coach and Mentor
