Coloring May Be The Best Alternative To Meditation. Here Are 9 Therapeutic Benefits

April 18th, 2016

Awake Goy

Life and colours are two sides of the same coin. Colours represent various shades of life and modify the appearance of the things we see. We see different colours around us—each tells a different story.

We have a tendency to link colours with children or childhood. While children love colours, it cannot be ruled out that they fascinate adults too. The trend of using colouring books and apps is gaining ground among adults, as it is a fun activity which is both helpful and inexpensive.

How Are Colours Important To Us?

Colours help reduce stress significantly to make our lives free and easy. This is one of the reasons why many people take to using colouring books. Colours are closely associated with various facets of our psyche, which perhaps becomes most clear when we relate our feelings to a particular colour. For example, negative feelings relate to black, whereas peace relates to white. Similarly, trust and calmness relate to blue, whereas love and danger relate to red.

We have access to a number of applications at present—thanks to the innovation in technology over the last decade. People can spend some time colouring pictures without the worry of making changes to their work schedule. The only challenge though, is to choose the right app that starts working with a click.

Stress Relief Adult Color Book is a useful app to get started. The app seeks to relieve stress, depression, anxiety, dementia and other such conditions by merging the healing capacity of art with research oriented therapeutic science. People are sharing their experiences before using a colouring app and after using colouring app, telling how colouring helps them get their peace back.

The benefits of colouring books for adults are discussed below in more detail:

1. Colouring Books Help You Cope With Stress

Stress is the way your body reacts or responds to a challenge. Your body responds to stress by the “fight or flight response.” An increase in the level of stress triggers an increased secretion of stress hormones like cortisol or adrenaline in the body, which can have a negative effect on both body and mind.

A majority of psychologists prescribe colouring books for patients with stress. The first to do so was distinguished psychologist Carl Jung. Psychologists perceive it as one of the tools of their trade to help relax their patients and calm them down. They believe the activity keeps a patient absorbed in it for hours, thereby keeping their focus on the activity rather than on any intrusive thought. It gradually lowers the activity of the amygdala, which prevents any possibility of generating the “fight or flight response.” As a result, a sense of relief sets up and the patients get a break from the troubling thoughts linked with various issues, which in turn helps them cope with stress.

2. Colouring Books Promote Creativity & Logical Thinking

Colouring a picture involves a combination of logic and creativity. The former comes to the fore while you choose a colour, whereas the latter comes to the fore while you think about mixing colours by matching them with various patterns. Thus, putting colours on pictures activates multiple components of the cerebral hemisphere, promoting both creativity and logical thinking. It also bolsters coordination and motor skills.

3. Colouring Refreshes Memory

When an adult puts colour on a picture, it brings them the memory of their childhood, which can be a refreshing experience. Added to this, it also generates positive energy.

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The brain retrieves information depending upon numerous variables, colour being one of them. Colour stimulates the brain and also helps open up some other areas in it to help you remember the things that you learn.

4. Colouring Helps Clear Your Mind

Your mind is a hub of thoughts and emotions. Chances are they may shoot up and you may feel the need to get rid of them to be at peace. Colouring helps you clear your mind.

5. Colouring Improves Concentration

Concentrating on a task is no small feat. It is an art and you need a lot of practice and patience to perfect it. Putting colour on a picture is a fun activity which requires you to pay attention to intricate details. You focus more as you apply your creativity and analytical thinking to put colour on the intricate patterns, and this goes a long way towards stepping up your capacity to concentrate.

6. Colouring Boosts Your Confidence

Confidence is the belief in your ability to succeed. Colouring an image requires a lot of thinking and mindfulness, giving you a sense of achievement and satisfaction when you finish with your piece. This boosts your morale and helps you gain confidence.

7. Colouring Serves As A Pastime

Nowadays you race against the clock to go about your business as a matter of routine, which poses the risk of you getting into a rut as you strive to move into high gear in the short term. In the process, you suffer from stress, which comes out of work pressure.

It is hard to find time to relax and rejuvenate on a tight schedule. That said, one does not need to lose heart, as there is still a glimmer of hope. Activities like colouring can help you prevent stress from taking its toll on your life. As a pastime, it can add some spice to your life and more importantly, you can incorporate it with ease in your daily routine.

8. Colouring Makes You A Better Thinker

Colours create vivid imagery when they combine with thoughts. They have a cause-and-effect relationship. Colours spark your imagination and help you build visual imagery, and the more you imagine, the more you think. This sharpens up your brain and helps you become a better thinker.

9. Colouring Relieves Anxiety

These days, it is a part of the natural order of things to have high levels of anxiety. There are abundant reasons to become anxious about different things, which makes it a challenge to remain cool, calm, and collected. When you are colouring, however, you tend to forget other things, including the thoughts that bother you. This helps you develop mindfulness and learn to stay calm in difficult situations.

As discussed above, colouring benefits us in many ways. We can infer that making it a habit can yield fruitful outcomes in our lives.

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