Reducing Stress with Adult Coloring Books

If you are like most people, you came up with a few New Year’s resolutions for 2016. These are usually things like losing weight and eating right. But, if you are like me… my resolution was to reduce stress. I’ve tried yoga, meditation, and other techniques like that. But, nothing ever seemed to work for me… probably because I cannot just sit and let my mind go blank like that for an extended period of time.

So, when Oriental Trading contacting me about taking a look at their adult coloring books I thought, “why not?” I had heard recently that this new craze was good for relieving stress and helps you relax as you color. Plus, I love to color and I am tired of only having kids coloring books to use. (You can only color in so many princesses…).

The practice generates wellness, quietness and also stimulates brain areas related to motor skills, the senses and creativity.^a

I was actually pleasantly surprised with these coloring books. The pictures are reminiscent of Zentangle designs and are much more intricate than children’s books. You can easily lose yourself in the designs and escape from the world for a few minutes (or hours). I love that they are one-sided so you can use markers or colored pencils – whichever you choose. The paper is thicker too, which keeps bleed-through at a minimum. I would, however, recommend tearing the picture out (they are perforated) before using markers, just in case you are heavy-handed when you color to eliminate bleeding.

When getting ready for this post, I looked to see if there was actually any scientific basis in coloring being relaxing for adults. According to several articles I read, coloring for relaxation was first used at the beginning of the 20th century by Carl G. Jüng!^abc His design choices were mandalas that mimicked church windows.

If you are looking to de-stress, I highly recommend you check out the adult coloring books by Mindware® at Oriental Trading. (Bonus: They are less expensive (and more interesting) than the ones at the grocery store checkout counter!) They have several options/designs to fit whatever your creative side is hungry for…

Flowers
Prisms
Ocean (My favorite!)

Check out all their styles on the Oriental Trading website.

I received three complimentary Mindware® coloring books and Crayola® colored pencils in exchange for my unbiased opinion. For more information, please see my disclosure page.

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^a http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/coloring-for-stress_n_5975832.html

^b https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201003/cool-art-therapy-intervention-6-mandala-drawing

^c http://www.carl-jung.net/mandala.html