![]() ![]() => Your next read: 25 Best Adult Coloring Books Ever 7. It is particularly helpful for those who suffer from social anxiety, as they are able to interact meaningfully with new people without the pressure that often accompanies social gatherings. Though coloring is traditionally seen as a singular activity, these clubs seek to promote positive social interaction between members of the community. Coloring has become so popular that coloring chapters are forming in some neighborhood and cities where avid ‘colorists’ are taking advantage of the phenomenon. Researchers have found that coloring works in a variety of circumstances, one being debilitating illness.Ī 2006 study by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University found that coloring and other art therapy was essential to reducing stress, anxiety and fear during women’s cancer treatment periods. Learning to self soothe during a period of trauma is essential to coping, and many are finding that coloring helps combat tough experiences without getting wrapped up in the accompanying emotions. Those who can influence how their bodies deal with trauma are much more resilient and have higher coping mechanisms. Learning how to control your body’s stress activation system (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system…phew!) is a vital component of mental and physical wellness. Stan Rodski explained that coloring elicited real neurological effects, stating: “We started seeing changes in heart rate, changes in brainwaves…the most amazing things occurred.” 5. The negativity is replaced with more positive thoughts when ‘colorists’ react favorably to the pairing of colors and the creative pattern. The focus that coloring necessitates makes concentrating on issues very difficult, and often when people color, their negative thought patterns abate. ![]() Plagued by worries about your bills, your health, your family or your future? All of the above? Coloring may actually help replace patterns of negative thinking with more positive ones. Thought Swapping – Replace Patterns of Negative Thinking He used the idea and the practice of coloring to promote wellness among his patients, noting that creating and coloring mandalas symbolized “a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness.” 4. Jung believed that the mandala pattern was a representation of the intricacy of ‘self,’ and noticed that many of his patients would doodle circle drawings. Psychologist Carl Jung believed that coloring mandalas helped patients experience many of the benefits of meditation, like inner calm and self realization. Tried meditating the Eat, Pray, Love way and couldn’t get to grips with silent meditation? Fortunately, that’s not the only way to get centered. Coloring works out both brain hemispheres, so that’s a total win-win! 3. When you choose to pair or blend colors, you utilize the creative part of your brain. When you color, you utilize the logic-based part of the brain through the choice of color or pattern. Exercise the MindĪs previously mentioned, coloring sparks brain activity and activates the parts of the brain responsible for creativity and logic.Ĭoloring is considered a good ‘mind exercise’ because it utilizes both sides of the brain’s cerebral cortex– an important system of control as it promotes motor skills and coordination. This is especially useful for those who suffer from constant anxiety or experience anxiety as a side effect of disorders like PTSD or depression. A study conducted in 2005 by Nancy Curry and Tim Kasser found that those who colored in mandalas reported drastically decreased anxiety levels. ![]() Simultaneously, coloring activates the parts of the brain that support creativity. ![]() Researchers have discovered that coloring activities help relax the amygdala – the section of the brain that is activated in situations where you feel stressed or scared. Adults from all walks of life are turning to coloring books as a form of stress release, therapy and just plain old fun.īut before you dismiss this colorful craze as silly, ‘just another fad' or for people with too much time on their hands, check out what researchers are saying about the power of art to improve emotional, mental and even physical health. In fact, my brother's mother-in-law is doing it, and so is my next door neighbor. On the face of it, sitting there coloring in the hippos, crocodiles, sky and grass would seem kind of mindless for an adult – if done alone, that is – but in practice it's really mindful.Īnd adult coloring is really a thing. It was only after a couple of minutes that I sort of came to and realised that “this is actually really therapeutic”. Without thinking twice, I picked up a crayon and began to color in with my daughter. ![]()
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