Colouring books can bring colour back into your life. Here’s why:

It’s a sad reality that in today’s world, a lot of people experience high amounts of anxiety, stress, or depression. According to Medical Today, this might be because of the faster pace of life we lead, day-in and day-out. Technology, which was designed to improve our lives, can leave us feeling plugged in. For instance, getting emails from work at 8pm in the evening can add to the stress of daily life. You know the feeling, right? Your phone beeps with an email notification, and before you’ve even checked it, you know it’s from work.

The effects of depression.

Even if you or someone you know suffers from mild depression, the effects on your life are still noticeable and unpleasant. Depression, as cited by psychiatrists such as Dr Eleanor Holzapfel, who is a partner at mental health clinic Crescent Clinic, is when the things that used to bring you joy no longer do. It’s as if the colour from your world has seeped out, leaving only stark monochrome – and the figurative black raincloud following you wherever you go!

Aside from the various treatment options open to someone experiencing depression, there are plenty of activities that help as well. For instance, exercise – even if it is as gentle as a walk around the block – has been shown to have wonderful effects on a person’s well-being.

Add a little colour to your world.

Research has shown for a long time that arts and crafts such as painting on a canvas or moulding a clay sculpture has done incredible things for a person with depression.

But a recent study conducted by New Zealand researchers, and published in the Creativity Research Journal, has discovered another artsy activity – that many may dismiss as for children – also works. It alleviates the symptoms of depression through creative expression.

And that’s colouring books.

Not everybody knows this, but there’s actually an entire market for adults interested in colouring books. Some feature intricate designs and patterns that allow you to create a really pretty picture with the help of crayons, coloured pencils, and felt pens. It’s a bit like taking a magic coloured pen and adding back the colour to your world, filling in the monochrome!

It’s science!

The New Zealand study found that colouring-in has a calming and relaxing effect on adults. Perhaps it’s also the sense of childhood nostalgia that brings the effect – remembering emotionally what it was like to be a kid, with the sense of carefree-ness, that helps with stress.

And who doesn’t want to, at least for a little while, feel like a kid again? The hopping on the bed, the turn of the imagination to create giant action heroes out of your toy figurines?

No need to be artistic.

Whatever it is, part of the appeal is that anyone – even those who don’t consider themselves to have much artistic ability – can do it. Even you, if you’re not an arts and crafts type, can and will find it easy to do. Except maybe for people who don’t park between the lines. They probably can’t colour in them either!

Colouring books bring easy benefits.

In any case, the health benefits are measurable – according to the research done by the researcher psychologists – in as little time as 10 minutes a day.

Perhaps it’s also about the disconnect that helps. Disconnecting from your phone and your computer and the digital world for a short while. It certainly makes sense that it would calm an overstimulated brain.

Because the Information Age – the age of smart devices and constant bombardment of information – certainly is overstimulating.

So it’s a good thing that the study suggests colouring-in can be a very cost-effective, easy-to-access self-help remedy. Part of why it works so well, the study says, is because it induces a meditative state. Who would have thought colouring in intricate designs would have you become mindful like a mystical yogi?

Not just a remedy.

Even those who don’t suffer from depression, severe anxiety or stress will find colouring-in a highly satisfying activity. It’s rewarding.

And we’re here to help! With an assortment of colouring books available for purchase, drop into your nearest PNA store and get ready to add some colour to your world!