How Coloring Can Reduce Stress
Stress is not good for us but in today’s hustle and bustle of everyday activities, it’s not uncommon for people to have high levels of anxiety and stress. But stress can be seriously detrimental to your health. Constantly being under stress can cause high blood pressure, sleep problems, digestive issues… the list goes on and on.
Unfortunately, it’s all too common for people to use unhealthy methods like drugs or alcohol or even food to help reduce their stress. But there’s also a ‘new kid’ on the block that some adults are turning to when they need to take the edge off – coloring!
Benefits of Coloring
That’s right, coloring, once a leisure activity in elementary school, has become one of the hottest stress reduction trends! And it’s no wonder – there are so many health benefits to coloring. Let’s take a look at three of them:
- Helps Alleviate Depression
Coloring can help boost your mood. If you’re feeling down, grab a handful of bright colors and color something fun like flowers. Red, yellow and orange help stimulate the brain’s emotional center so be sure to use those colors! Coloring helps you focus on something else, instead of thinking about how down you’re feeling. You could even say positive affirmations to yourself while you color.
- Reduces Anxiety
Piggy backing off the benefit above, helps alleviate depression, is that coloring also helps reduce anxiety. Coloring is calming and helps you slow down, feeling less anxious. Use blue and pale pinkish colors because those shades of color are known to be soothing. As you color, notice how your body relaxes and how even your breathing slows down.
- Improves Concentration
One of the best ways to color and help improve your concentration is to do it distraction free. Meaning, turn off the phone, turn off the TV, etc. Find a quiet place free of interruptions and set a timer for 15-20 minutes.
As you begin to color, focus on the page and the sensations. How do the markers feel in your hand? How do the colors make you feel? What does the texture of the coloring book/page feel like as your hand moves across it?
Before long, the timer will go off and you’ll probably be surprised that that much time has already passed. And you may even feel inspired to keep coloring – pay attention to that and give in (if you can) and keep going.
It’s even suggested to use coloring as a tool to help reduce the onset of dementia. So if you have an elderly parent, why not introduce some coloring fun back into their life (I’m sure they did it as kids!)? And get the kids in on it too – coloring can be a great activity for kids and their grandparents to spend some quality time together.
These are just a few of the benefits of coloring and how it can help reduce stress. Give it a try a couple of times and before long, you might be surprised to find that coloring is your favorite and go to way to reduce stress.
Give it a try now. You’ll be glad you did. 🙂
(original post from my blog thegoodnewscafe dot net)