Benefits of Colouring

Ever look around you and notice that all of a sudden there were colouring books for adults? Did you stop and wonder why? When I first saw colouring books for adults, I was super excited, but also thought this was just another trend. But then I was gifted a mandala colouring book and it completely changed my life.

I used to work in a high-stress environment and looked for healthy outlets to reduce stress; colouring mandalas did that for me. I thought this may have simply been because colouring was nostalgic; it was something we did as kids. I slowly learned that colouring has several benefits and decided to incorporate colouring elements to as many products as possible when I started Scribbly.

Here are just a few benefits of colouring:

1. Reduced stress and anxiety

As mentioned earlier, colouring helped reduce my stress and anxiety that was caused by a previous work environment. Colouring provides creative outlet to relax the brain. Colouring has the ability to generate a similar meditative state that meditation would induce – reducing a restless mind. While colouring most things can provide reprieve, specifically colouring mandalas or geometric patterns actually helps lower stress and anxiety levels. Which is why we make it a habit of including mandala colouring pages in our planners!

 2. Improved motor skills

While colouring helps reduce stress and anxiety, it also helps improve motor skills and vision. I always thought colouring was a creative task and never realized that colouring could benefit the logical side of my brain as well. But colouring actually requires both hemispheres of the brain to communicate; logic helps us stay in the lines, while choosing colours generates creativity.

3. Improved sleep

Improved sleep in a way is linked to stress and anxiety. If stress and anxiety in life are decreased, sleep will come easier. Of course, there are other reasons for not being able to sleep that could require medical expertise. Another way colouring helps improve sleep is by providing an electronic-free nighttime ritual. Using electronics before bed can reduce sleep levels, as exposure to the light emitted can reduce melatonin levels; the hormone which produces sleep. Colouring is a relaxing and alternative electronic-free activity to do before bed that doesn’t disturb melatonin levels.

 4. Negative thoughts are expelled

Colouring also has the potential of replacing negative thoughts and bringing in more positive ones. When we’re colouring, we have to focus on the shapes and patterns in front of us, and carefully choose colours to go with the image, which may help push negative thoughts away. This is because colouring temporarily prevents an inner dialogue as we’re intently focused on the activity at hand.

Whenever you feel stressed, just take a break and find something to colour! You don’t need expensive colouring books; just print out a few sheets from the internet, draw something, or pick up a kids’ colouring book from the dollar store!