Colouring books for adults are helping people all over the world to cope with stress and anxiety, and now the trend has hit the UK.
A cursory glance at Amazon’s Top Ten bestselling books list proves the point. Though E. L. James is reigning with Grey, the latest money-spinner in her Fifty Shades series, you don’t have to look much further down the chart to find Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom — A Colouring Book Adventure, at number three, or The Mindfulness Colouring Book by Emma Farrarons, at number nine.
The new mantra among strung-out women looking to de-stress or to cope with anxiety: stay between the lines.
The boom is being attributed to a modern preoccupation with nostalgia, combined with the fact that when it comes to relaxation, colouring has surprisingly scientific results.
“It’s all about how colouring in helps alter brainwaves,” said clinical psychologist Dr David Holmes.
“When we’re alert and attentive, with the brain engaged in decision-making and problem-solving, it operates using beta brainwaves — precisely what’s needed when you need to think on your feet.”
But beta brainwaves require a great deal of mental energy and the brain can’t continue to effectively function in that mode.
Just as a car engine overheats if you continually rev it, keeping the brain in high gear puts it under a level of pressure it cannot sustain healthily.
To relax, says Dr Holmes, you must shift down a gear so the brain starts using alpha brainwaves — a transition some people find difficult.
“Unsurprisingly these people are the same ones who tend to go on to develop problems such as anxiety, depression and insomnia,” he said.
One fan singing the praises of colouring is Shyla Jannusch, a housewife suffering from anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.
Shayla said: “Shutting off my mind can be a problem, and traditional meditation techniques are hard for me. So colouring is a great way to passively meditate. It also helps me with the tremor in my hands from my anxiety, since hand-eye coordination is necessary.”