
Finally, there’s a de-stressing technique that is actually fun and colourful, and it’s taking the world by storm: colouring books for adults.
Your favourite childhood pastime has now become the hottest health and wellbeing trend.
Case in point? Earlier this year, the top-selling books on Amazon were not complex literary novels, but Johanna Basford’s two colouring books for adults: Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest.
And apparently, colouring in comes with a multitude of health benefits. Dr Suzy Green, clinical and coaching psychologist, and the founder of The Positivity Institute, believes that the activity can help reduce stress, while simultaneously promoting wellbeing and calm.
“Colouring really is a mindfulness activity,” vouches Dr Green. “There’s research which shows that mindfulness decreases stress levels, and increases wellbeing. Mindfulness induces relaxation, and it’s calming.”
I decided to give it a go.
As much as I love colouring in with my toddler daughter, I found that her colouring books were a bit too… easy for my well-honed, grown-ass woman skills.

I meandered down to my local bookstore, Berkelouw Books in Hornsby, hoping that they would have at least one adult colouring book. I was surprised to find that their entire window display was filled with adult colouring books, pencils and crayons.
I purchased Secret Garden, by Johanna Basford, as I thought it had the most interesting and detailed illustrations out of all the books. I chatted to Alec, an employee, and asked him what sort of person purchased adult colouring books.
When he paused, I asked, “Are they people just like me?” Alec agreed, and said that it was mostly women in their 30s and 40s, often mothers, who were interested in adult colouring books. Hey, even Zooey Deschanel, is a fan of these books, posting a link about the book on her Facebook page.
With all of these endorsements, I took to my Secret Garden colouring book with much excitement. I coloured this bestselling book over the period of a week, and slowly grew to enjoy the process.
Initially, it was really frustrating, because the illustrations are so finely drawn that I felt like I was going blind trying to colour within the lines. The colouring pages are full of teeny tiny leaves, flowers and bugs, and sometimes I wished that I had a magnifying glass to help me out. I was also using crummy pencils, which only produced faint colours.
Top Comments
Oh this is such an awesome idea! I love colouring with my 3 year old, didn't think about this as being a valid "stress relief". I just saw they have the books on sale at Eckersleys....and the pens too. Great advice on looking at the pens as opposed to pencils too
I was suffering from extreme anxiety the other night (I'm OS, my aunty is sick and I'm not sure what is happening, plus have a tendency towards anxiety anyway) and in the restaurant, they had paper place mars and crayons on each table. I found drawing pictures really helped my anxiety calm right down! And I wasn't the only adult with the same idea!! When I get home, I'm going to buy some colouring books and textas for sure!!