It’s nice to have a hobby that makes a difference. Those who already enjoy adult coloring know all the incredible benefits it provides. If you’ve never tried it before, this is the perfect time to try it!
Not only is adult coloring inexpensive and accessible, but anyone of any age can enjoy it. It provides a much-needed distraction in a time full of uncertainty and anxiety. With folks from all walks of life sharing their creations on social media, a sense of community has been established amongst its most die-hard hobbyists.
Adult coloring improves fine motor skills, helps find personal fulfillment, cultivates patience, increases attention span, sparks creativity, reduces stress and anxiety, improves sleep, utilizes both sides of the brain, and helps foster self-soothing in adults.
Improved Fine Motor Skills
All good elementary teachers know that it is vital to set aside time each day for children to color. Gripping a color crayon or colored pencil and using that instrument to shade in specific shapes helps develop a good finger grip. It also aids in developing fine motor muscles in the child’s hands, fingers, and wrists.
It is for these same reasons that adults can benefit from adult coloring. Older hands, which may have lost muscle mass and strength due to the natural aging process, can regain that strength by exercising those muscles. Adult coloring, with all its other benefits, is a perfect way for those muscles to get the exercise they need. Manyy occupational therapists use coloring in their treatment sessions. Coloring is a resistive task that aids in building up finger and hand muscle strength.
Personal Fulfillment
How often do you start something that, for one reason or another, you can’t finish: household chores, a project at work, a DIY project, or even a good book? It can be so frustrating to start something only to have progress halted. Coloring with intention can quickly produce a finished piece, with minimal effort required. It may sound a little silly, but it is true, the satisfaction you can receive from knowing that you have accomplished something – and something beautiful – is rewarding and essential. It’s likely that once you begin to recognize that personal fulfillment, you will keep coming back for more. It’s worth it!
Patience Cultivator
How many times have you sat in a car waiting for someone to finish an appointment or practice mindlessly scrolling on an electronic device? The longer you have to wait, the more frustrated you tend to get, right? Adult coloring is a much healthier and better way to spend that hour waiting. Allow that time to be your time to create and enjoy it as time set aside just for you.
Increased Attention Span
Coloring books allow us to focus on one thing at a time. By setting aside time to color, you permit yourself to ignore potential distractions. This increase in focus helps us practice concentration. The sequence of steps required to complete a coloring-in pattern, drawing, or specific image requires our attention and presence of mind, focusing on the present moment.
Sparks Creativity
For an adult, setting aside time to color is a special treat, a time set aside expressly for enjoyment. Because the activity is out of your routine, it sparks your imagination. Focusing on the task at hand clears your mind of the “normal” obligations of the day and allows you to jumpstart your creative side. Although you can’t categorize coloring books as original art because you are coloring in someone else’s outline, what you do inside that outline is entirely up to you. The best part is that the possibilities are endless!
Folks have shared that spending a little time on coloring freed their brains to figure out other problems they were facing at home or work. Coloring empties your mind. While you’re busying yourself with the task of coloring the page, your mind is allowed to wander. Sometimes this wandering enables the brain to make connections it might not have otherwise.
Some ideas to help spark creativity:
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- Color outside the lines.
- Pick unusual patterns or shapes.
- Stick to a specific color palette.
- Use mixed media – like colored pencils and gel pens.
- Color the same thing twice – using a different technique each time.
- Try new techniques like stippling, cross-hatching, or shading.
- Use unexpected colors in unexpected ways.
- Only allow yourself to use varying shades of one or two colors.
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Stress and Anxiety Levels Reduced
Remember when a “time out” was a bad thing? In this culture of go, go, go, adults crave a “time out,” too. Setting some time aside for adult coloring, you allow yourself that critically important “time out.” Just as we enjoy the feeling we get from provoking the fight or flight response with a roller coaster or haunted house, it is just as important that we calm that same portion of the brain, the amygdala. The basic, repetitive motions of coloring relax the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, literally calming the mind. Coloring allows your brain to focus on the present, quieting the anxiety and worry. When you allow yourself to focus on the simple task of coloring, you aren’t as disturbed by your thoughts.
Coloring is fun! Plus, there are no expectations. Coloring is a sheer pleasure. No one is paying you to color. No one is demanding that you color. There is no intended outcome when you sit down to color. You make it what you want it to be and that in itself is very satisfying and freeing. While adult coloring isn’t the same as professional art therapy, some of the benefits are the same: a reduction in anxiety, an increased ability to focus, a decrease in blood pressure a decrease in rapid heart rate, and increased positivity.
Check out our article on stress relief HERE!
Improves Sleep
If coloring reduces your anxiety and quiets your mind, it stands to reason it would also improve your sleep. Research finds that if adults who are struggling with insomnia restrict the use of electronic devices 30-60 minutes before bed and allow themselves quiet time to enjoy reading or coloring, or a combination of both, they increase their odds of going to sleep and staying asleep.
Utilizes Brain
One of the reasons art is so critical is that art helps connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain. When adults color, they use both sides of their brains for different functions. To pick color pallettes and make artistic choices on using those colors, adults use their right side, or “creative side” of the brain, including the frontal lobe for concentration and focus. However, the left side, or “rational” side, of the brain is also utilized for fine motor skills and problem-solving. When adults settle into routines, it is crucial to ensure both sides of the brain are used and used often. Like the other muscles in your body, the brain must be exercised to stay in good, quality shape.
Self Soothe
New parents are often advised to teach children to comfort themselves when their parents cannot comfort them. Self-soothing is a skill that sometimes needs to be honed again as an adult, especially if severe physical or psychological trauma is endured.
Using coloring to help control your body’s stress activation system is vital to your health and happiness. Research has shown that coloring and other forms of art therapy were critical in reducing stress, anxiety, and fear during cancer treatments. Over and over again, the benefits of adult coloring become clear. The mental calm and focus produced by allowing yourself the time and space to color cannot be overstated.
The question isn’t anymore, “Why should I try adult coloring?” The question really should be, “Why not try adult coloring?”
Additional Benefits
Our brains are wired to like color. Adults know this, almost instinctively, from our work-lives. Social media posts with pictures fare far better than those without. Logos and brands designed with color in mind are more successful and recognizable than those that have no color. Studies show that adding color to text allows for faster reading. Color also is known to enhance the memory of Alzheimer’s patients.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a specific type of person who benefits from adult coloring?
The beauty of coloring is that anyone can enjoy it. For some senior adults who have Alzheimer’s, adult coloring provides an activity that doesn’t limit them. For those dealing with a loss of speech, including stroke or Parkinson’s patients, coloring can provide an important self-expression outlet. Even veterans who struggle with PTSD have found some anxiety relief through adult coloring.
Are there people for whom adult coloring doesn’t have benefits?
If coloring triggers terrible memories for you, or you never really liked coloring as a child, it can be hard to benefit from coloring as an adult.
Are there coloring books that specifically help in reducing anxiety and stress?
Historically, the mandala is known as a sacred symbol. For coloring, the intricate patterns, circles, labyrinths, and lines used to create mandalas require thoughtful concentration. It’s that focus that creates an anxiety reduction.
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