Since Maya has been 18 months, our home has become one big art studio. Not that it hasn’t been before, because my preteen Olivia has been experimenting with different arts & crafts for years. However, now it bothers me more as the amount of art exhibits double every day, and the amount of time I have to clean up after every explosion of inspiration brings me anxiety and stress. With that I found myself sitting more and more with my girls and joining them in their coloring, painting, or tracing projects. I cherish these moments as relaxing and quiet bonding times. Being an OCD cleaner and de-clatterer when it comes to our living space, I noticed it didn’t bother me as much to have all the mess around as we are coloring and creating an art masterpiece. And that is why I researched the benefits of coloring for adults, kids, and teens.

Coloring used to be reserved for children and the occasional adult who got to babysit them, but over the last couple of years, it has turned into a world trend for everyone. More and more coloring books for adults are becoming best sellers. Coloring switched from being a hobby to a hip and healthy activity for all ages. Here are 10 benefits of coloring for adults and not only:

We all like to doodle on the side of our notebooks as we are listening to a lecture or conference call. But it is the rhythmic repetition of coloring that provides stress relief. Studies find that the most effective are mandalas – an intricate circular pattern that, in Buddhist and Hindu traditions, represents the universe. We even have some free copies for you to download.

The action of coloring involves both logic & creativity. When our child uses logic to pick up a color for a particular shape or pattern, they activate the analytical part of the brain. On the other hand, when we choose to mix and match colors, we activate the creative side of the brain. And for sure, we have all seen blue cats, pink dogs, and white crocodiles.

When an adult colors, we are transported back to the stress-free days of childhood: to the smell of grandma’s pie, walking barefoot everywhere, not caring about tomorrow. Getting back those happy memories helps us relax and even feel optimistic and energetic for the future.

I understand that for most of the mom meditation might be a foreign concept, as daily tasks don’t allow for it – Meditation = the art of doing nothing.  However, like meditation, coloring allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus on the moment. It is the art of ‘de-concentrating’ which helps relax and reduce the chatter of a restless mind.

Did you know that Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population? By using coloring pages, therapists help their patients relax. Scary but true info is that Obsessive-compulsive disorder starts as early as 7 years of age, and Social anxiety disorder typically begins around age 13.

Adults often find themselves stuck in a predictable life path: wake up, wake the kids, prepare breakfast, prepare snacks, drive the kids to school, drive to work, cook dinner, and put the kids to sleep. Coloring pages can help one get out of this routine, making them feel more comfortable and relaxed at the end of a long day. This activity can also help one with his/her thoughts. Many adults have rediscovered themselves through coloring pages for adults.

Coloring books for adults are ideal for patients – especially those battling health issues like epilepsy, autoimmune disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, or Alzheimer’s disease.

One of the most important benefits of coloring books is that they help ignite creativity. Adults who color regularly find that they become great at picking colors for their clothes, their interiors, etc. Coloring books and pages also help people become more creative in their jobs, analytical thinking activities, and several other aspects of work and play. Seeing that our ‘screen time raised kids’ are starting to lack social skills, imagination, and creativity, coloring helps to spark back some of the artsy spirits in them.

Inner Child healing therapy is a popular therapy for disturbed adults. As adults, we often have certain areas in our lives that need working on and all those areas are connected to certain issues which we carry forward from our past. When one reconnects with his/her inner child, a child full of innocence and love, one can actually become better as an adult. Such inner child healing especially helps break negative habits and thinking patterns.

If you really wish to relax – bring out your crayons and download some coloring pages. This will help you get out and away from it all. It will help you relax and unwind.

It will be like taking a vacation without going anywhere!