Coloring Book Therapy: Fad or Fact?

To test out the stress-relieving ability of adult coloring books, the editors from Prime Publishing LLC had a coloring book party. For a short break one morning, we decked out our conference room with treats, coloring pencils, and printable coloring pages for our editors to explore at their leisure. After getting a chance to be creative in the office, we polled our editors on how they felt before, during, and after coloring. We received the following answers:

While this little experiment was by no means perfect - the participants were at work which is naturally a more stressful environment, they colored in a group setting that could lead to social anxiety, and there was a small time limit on the activity, the results still point to some interesting conclusions. Adult coloring books are, our participants found, a relaxing activity. Sitting down and coloring can temporarily calm you down. One editor said the following of the experience:

"Unlike other creative forms like drawing or painting, there's no pressure to perform. It's a relief to be in control of something that really won't affect my life. If I choose the 'wrong' color, there are no repercussions. I can turn the page and color something else whenever I want. You can't be bad at coloring. It's a way to let go of time and pressure, and just sink into the comfort of repetitive motion."

Shading in coloring book pages can allow a person to, for lack of a better word, chill out. The repetitive and simple motion allows the colorer to zone out and tune into a repetitive task. In the end, however, editors did not find that the activity relieved stress in their lives to the same degree. It was a momentary fix that faded shortly after they had finished. Much like other stress-busting activities like exercise, listening to music, meditation, and yoga, coloring is temporary and the effectiveness depends wholly on your method and timing. Adult coloring books cannot relieve stress in a stressful environment.
Doing yoga in a crowded room, for example, would not be relaxing, and adult coloring books are much the same. Another editor noted, “I think it could have been a stress-reducing activity if I didn't have to work right afterward.” Coloring is not an inherently stress-busting activity, but instead, allows one to relax. These moments of quiet can, in turn, lead to a temporary reduction of stress. Whether that moment happens to have a long-standing impact on the overall levels of stress in a person's life varies.

In the end, our editors discovered that coloring is a relaxing activity temporarily. In the right environment, adult coloring books serve as a form of therapy because they are a form of meditation. In order to have a stress-reducing adult coloring book experience, the environment and timing need to be right. They are not a cure-all for stress, but they can certainly help. Much like certain people find joy and relaxation in specific forms of exercise, adult coloring books are another option. What it comes down to is taking some time to allow yourself to relax, deciding that you want to take a few moments for self-care. Coloring books are just one of those options.