Watch your kids and/or grand-kids when they color. But it’s not just for kids.

You can join the adult coloring book trend. With some books even topping bestseller lists.

Do you know why?

You can have a lot of fun, but you can also enjoy countless health benefits.

REDUCE STRESS AND ANXIETY

Something about coloring to relax. You can turn the fear center of your brain, that’s the amygdala, down a notch. Just like meditating, coloring reduces the thoughts of a restless mind. This creates mindfulness and quiets your mind, which lets your brain get some rest after a long day of worrying or thinking.

IMPROVE MOTOR SKILLS AND VISION

Coloring goes beyond a fun activity for relaxation. You need to use the two hemispheres of your brain… the left side’s  logic helps to stay inside the lines, and your right-brain creativity to choose colors.

IMPROVE SLEEP

Turn off the electronics a little earlier and pick up your coloring pencils or crayons. Start a new habit that you will look forward to before sleep. Exposure to the emitted light from electronic screens reduces your levels of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Set your electronic-free bedtime ritual and sleep better

IMPROVE FOCUS

Do you find yourself pulled in a thousand directions? Inabilty to focus impacts your productivity during your working hours. Coloring requires you to focus, but not so much that it’s stressful. It opens up your frontal lobe, which controls organizing and problem solving, and allows you to put everything else aside and live in the moment, generating focus.

You don’t have to be an expert artist to color! It provides an uplifting way to unwind after a stressful dayJust pick something that you like and color it however you like!

It might be time to pull back the years and pull out the crayons!