Adults have been obsessed with colouring books over the past few years. Why is that? Why is such a simple act of colouring more revered now than ever before?
To begin with, anxiety and depression are increasingly becoming common in adults. Mental health and well-being are not taboo anymore and people are openly talking about their struggles with it. Many of them are searching for ways to address it. This is where adult colouring books come in.
Mental health benefits of colouring
Research, studies and wellness gurus claim that colouring helps the mind to stay calm, relaxed and focused. Groundbreaking research in 2005 proved anxiety levels dropped when people in the study coloured mandalas, which are round frames with geometric patterns inside. There are even dedicated colouring book for anxiety and depression available.
Basically, colouring is good for your brain. It helps with the following:
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the ability to focus and stay in the moment. It is a widely practised yoga and meditation warm-up technique that helps people stay focused on what they do. Regular usage of adult colouring books will help to be mindful. Being mindful will help you get in better touch with your feelings and manage stress easily.
Meditation
Colouring between the lines of intricate designs such as mandalas is found to hold you in a meditative state. Studies have shown that repeated and rhythmic strokes caused when working in adult colouring books sync with the heartbeat at times and takes people to a transcendental meditative state.
Reduces anxiety and depression
Anxiety mostly occurs when people fear about their future. Depression occurs when people are stuck about what happened to them in the past. In both situations, the person is not living in the present. Doing activities that keep people grounded in the present moment is a great way to avoid getting depressive or anxiety-filled thoughts. But how does colouring help anxiety or depression?
Well, adult colouring books are a great hobby that will keep you focused at the moment. They may even help keep anxiety and depression-inducing thoughts at bay.
Promotes self-love
Having a hobby that helps you see results without any time pressure is a soothing feeling in itself. There are no high stakes involved in it and it can be done by yourself. Adult colouring books sort of force you to be with yourself since colouring a given design is pretty much a one-person hobby. Studies have shown that spending more time with yourself promotes self-love.
Increases focus
You might think, ‘Of course, adult colouring books help with concentration’. Added benefits of it like mindfulness and meditation only made that more clear.
The fast-moving social media era has created an attention deficit in adults and teenagers. Focusing on one thing has become so hard for many. But adult colouring books are changing this, one design at a time.
All the health benefits of colouring are not the same for everyone. For some, it might not even help in any way. If you are facing any mental health problems, it is always better to seek help from someone familiar with such issues. If you or someone you know is suffering from any mental health issues, help them. Erase the taboo around mental health.
