5 Ways Coloring Helps Your Mind

A research study found that adults aged 65 or older who engaged in creative activities had fewer health problems and made fewer visits to the doctor.

Colouring may sound like a simple activity, but it can actually improve health. Read on to find out how colouring helps your mind!

Improves your concentration

There is a rhythmic motion with your hand when you colour. Active meditation focuses attention on simple tasks that require repetitive motion. The process of choosing the colour and the repetitive action of colouring focuses the brain on the present, blocking out any intrusive thoughts and helps you to concentrate. Concentrating this way creates a peaceful state of mind.

Feelings of accomplishment and self-esteem

Whether a person has been creating art for many years or is just starting to unleash their artistic abilities, being able to look at the pictures they completed will give them a sense of pride and accomplishment, as well as boost self-esteem. Creativity is a skill that helps many in their daily lives and especially when looking for solutions to solve a problem.

Better coordination

As adults age, it takes even more of an effort to control the muscles in their arms and hands. Doing a simple activity such as colouring in a colouring book, can strengthen and delay the loss of these skills, and also helps to prevent the loss of cognitive skills.

Colouring utilises both right and left hemispheres of the brain and involves both logic and creativity. When we are thinking about balance, colour choices, applying coloured pencil to paper, we are working on problem solving and fine motor skills. When we use logic to choose a colour for a particular shape or pattern, we activate the analytical part of the brain. When we choose to mix and match colours, we activate the creative side of the brain. This helps incorporate both areas of the cerebral cortex which control vision and help with coordination and fine motor skills.

Relieves stress

Colouring is a tremendous help to those who have PTSD, anxiety and stress issues as the activity helps to calm down the amygdala: the part of the brain that controls our fight or flight response, and keeps individuals in a heightened state of worry, panic and hypervigilance when it is active. Colouring allows one to focus and this helps to calm down the amygdala and its response. This lets your brain have some much needed rest and relaxation, which can be a welcome outlet for these individuals. It also helps to slow down heart rate and respiration, and loosens muscles as well.

Helps with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease

Everything from colour and brush choices to subject matter can reveal how someone is feeling at that moment. This helps to find out more about those who find it difficult to talk much. Colouring sessions are especially suited for people living with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease as it helps them to express themselves and better communicate their thoughts. For people with Alzheimer’s disease, it is best to avoid bizarre dream-like templates as these many only confuse and irritate them. It is best to choose pictures that they can recognise from daily life or their past, such as those with flora and fauna themes. You may also use memories from their past – for instance, trips abroad, sports played or landscapes in which they grew up in.

Experience the wonders of coloring here.

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