Adult Coloring Books Gain Popularity as a Method of Stress Relief
Freshman Emma Gray relaxes with an adult coloring book.
April 29, 2016
After a stressful week of tests and homework, students typically unwind by napping or watching Netflix. Now, there is a new relaxation method that increases artistic ability while relieving stress—all you have to do is color.
Adult coloring books are spreading through the nation as more people use them to relieve stress and fight anxiety. Coloring books do this by getting people to focus on the coloring and not their problems.
“It’s just calming and there isn’t a lot of thought required,” sophomore Palma Price said. “It’s almost meditative for me.”
Adult coloring books have complex- yet-relaxing patterns and pictures that captivate buyers and help them to de-stress by giving them a nostalgic feeling.
According to a March 2016 Seattle Times article, an estimated amount of 12 million copies of adult coloring books were sold in 2015.
According to a 2014 Huffington Post article, coloring also produces a calming effect because when doing it, the colorer uses their imagination and journeys back to childhood, a time of low stress and low anxiety.
Along with purchasing coloring books, the sale of art supplies, such as colored pencils, crayons and markers, have increased.
According to the Seattle Times article, the sales of colored pencils have shot up 26.3 percent, a sharp increase from the previous years.
The coloring books are not limited to just adults; CHS students can use adult coloring books to relieve anxiety and take a break from their bustling life.
“I love drawing and art in general,” junior Maria Escobar said. “Adult coloring books are really convenient. You can focus on that one thing and take your mind off of stress. And they are really inexpensive.”
The relaxing effect of adult coloring books can also help students focus on schoolwork by clearing their heads so that they can concentrate on studying.
“They really helped me during exams,” Price said. “They helped calm me down so I could study better.”
Another benefit of adult coloring books is that there is no certain time that you must do them; you can color whenever you can find the time.
Gray usually colors once a week before bed after she finishes all of her homework so that she can relieve the stress that built up during the week.
Adult coloring books are the new frontier for relaxation techniques for teenagers and can be found at stores like Barnes & Noble for about $10 or on Amazon for about $8.
“You can do whatever you want with them and basically have fun and relax,” Gray said.
