Studies show that various forms of art therapy are excellent ways to de-stress and focus the mind. But did you know art therapy doesn’t solely mean creating sculptures or fantastic paintings? Even if you aren’t an artist you can enjoy art therapy through the benefits of coloring.
Breaking out a box of crayons isn’t just for kids anymore. Over the years, grown-ups have found that using coloring books can lead to a calmer mind and a clearer sense of self.
There are several key benefits of coloring that you need to know. You can find out more by checking out our guide right here.
- Calms Anxiety
Everyone has what is considered the “fear center” of our brains, or the amygdala. That center is the part of our minds that activates when we start to feel symptoms of anxiety.
When having a panic attack, it is easy to let it encompass you. We can begin to feel restless, anxious, and even depressed while in this state. Coloring is a great activity to re-focus the mind on something else. This is a correct time to get help for your depression today here.
It can be hard to get your mind off symptoms like heart palpitations, dizziness, and paranoia. Coloring will re-center your concentration. Once you delve into choosing your preferred color pattern and focus on filling in the images, you will find your worries melt away.
- Distracts Us From Ourselves
People can be very into themselves. We all are at some point, and it’s only natural. There are times where we worry about our lives, our jobs, or situations a bit too much. When that happens, pop out a coloring book and let your mind only worry about coloring within the lines for a little bit.
Stressing too much can lead to other detrimental health conditions like high blood pressure. Take some time out of your day to focus on something simple like coloring.
- Disconnect From Social Media
While on the topic of stress, social media can cause a lot of unnecessary emotions. Many people report obsessing over getting more likes, followers, and views on their posts. Others say that they will see posts upset or anger them immensely.
Coloring is a wonderful way to disconnect from the social media chaos. Staying off of your devices will improve your sleep cycle, decrease stress, as well as let your eyes rest.
- Improves Motor Skills
Coloring aids children with their motor skills, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Many doctors have noticed the advantages of coloring for senior citizens and stroke victims.
The movements of holding a crayon and filling in the outlines of images helped their condition significantly. Adult coloring also helps your hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
- Improves Sleep
When we stay off of our devices, we can get a more peaceful night’s rest. Staring at a screen right before sleeping affects our eyes and our mental state.
One of the main advantages of coloring is that it helps you decompress before laying down for the night. On the other hand, it can help people who have trouble sleeping.
The more relaxed we become, the more tired our brains and bodies will be. So, if you engage in a coloring session before bedtime, you should have little trouble going to sleep.
- Creativity Eliminates Depressive Emotions
In our busy lives, we sometimes do not get the chance to explore our creative side. Coloring is an opportunity to embrace an artistic hobby.
By creatively expressing ourselves, it can raise our endorphins and make us feel happier. Seeing the final product is satisfying to people and makes them feel more accomplished.
If you are feeling down, or suffer from depression, try books geared toward coloring for adults. It might just be the trick to lifting you out of an unhappy mood.
- Can Calm Travel Fears
Many people who are afraid of travel, like flying on a plane, will bring a coloring book along for distraction. Unlike most other hobbies, coloring is portable. The coloring books are thin to medium in width, making them easy to fit inside a bag, backpack, or purse. They shouldn’t weigh you down too much, either.
Having coloring books on hand is a good idea for several reasons. If you have anxiety, they are accessible for a quick, mind-refocusing activity.
- Low Expectations Decrease Stress
Most hobbies require some amount of talent to accomplish. Playing an instrument, writing a book, or even sewing takes a lot of practice and hard work.
But when you color, you don’t have to worry about practicing to get better. Anyone can pick up a coloring book or print out pages from a website and get right to coloring.
Living adult lives means working, paying bills, and other mundane tasks needed to support ourselves in this world. Being too serious for so long weighs on our mentality and forces us to forget how to feel joy.
Since coloring is a child’s activity, it releases the stress of expectation. There is little room for error, so you don’t have to fret about mistakes. Whether you are coloring an intricate mandala or baby dinosaur coloring pages, you can indulge in childlike behavior without judgment.
- You Can Achieve Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a state of being that makes you present in the moment and extremely focused on the current task at hand. You can achieve this through relaxing activities such as meditation, yoga, and coloring.
You might wonder why you would want to reach mindfulness in the first place, but achieving this state of mind has several benefits of its own.
The positive results of mindfulness by coloring include:
- Better nights sleep
- Healthier body and mind
- Lowered symptoms of depression
- Lowered blood pressure
- Improved academic and work-related success
- A better sense of self-acceptance
- Helping with ADHD
- Lessens aggression
You can achieve mindfulness by sitting in a quiet room, with your sole focus being on your current activity. Your mind will wander much less in this state, preventing you from thinking about other situations, and allowing you to become more in tune with your sense of self.
Enjoy the Benefits of Coloring and Art
As you can see, there are several essential benefits of coloring for adults as well as children. If you are looking for a fun, easy way to de-stress, you should delve into the world of adult coloring. You can indulge yourself by engaging in an activity that is fun, calming, and leads to a greater sense of self-purpose.
There are countless downloadable pages, pdfs, and books to find what suits you best. Art therapy is a proven strategy to help people calm themselves and create peace within their lives. For more art tips and articles, be sure to check out our art page on our blog!