The Sleep-Boosting Benefits of Coloring Before Bed

After a busy day or leading up to a hectic week, getting some much-needed rest can be more difficult than it sounds. But sleep is so important! Setting up a good nighttime routine to wind down can help drastically. Get away from the screens, get comfortable, and try an activity more meditative... like coloring!

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The perfect bedtime pastime is to color, especially when you want to go to sleep soon, but not just yet. There are apps to color on, but the blue light from screens may not be as beneficial as coloring on paper. While you can definitely enter into that meditative state of focusing on what’s in front of you, blue light can mess with your circadian rhythm, which is a major factor in the quality of sleep. Using an actual coloring book takes a step back from this technology and its consequences on restlessness and deep sleep by reducing the blue light experienced at bedtime. 

Coloring before bed is an excellent way to wind down for the night because not only does it reduce blue light, but it also allows you to take a break from your thoughts and worries. Taking a break, even a short one, to allow yourself to calm down and focus on something creative and not to do with your busy bustling life, helps your body enter into a rest mode before bed. 

As mentioned previously, a good night's sleep is crucial and here are some reasons why:

• Sleeping is when our brain boosts function by cleaning out toxins and processing information.

• Strengthens your immune system by producing cells and antibodies.

• Repairs the body and rebuilds muscles after exercise.

• Regulates hormones and emotions, which decreases the risk of mental health conditions.

  
  

Those are just a few of the many benefits of a good night's sleep, and how coloring helps achieve a restful night is a great thing to know! Instead of scrolling on your phone at night, try adding 10 minutes to your bedtime routine to wind down, focus, and be creative to help you get your much-needed and well-deserved good night's sleep. 

The Tiny Book Co.™ offers the perfect, tiny coloring books to put your mind at ease before bedtime. They are the perfect quick and easy coloring book to help adults, adolescents, and children build better nighttime habits. So, turn off your phone and TV and grab a coloring book - it may even make your racing thoughts or busy week ahead a bit more manageable.

Coloring Through Time: How Coloring Books Have Taught Us For Centuries

September is a major transition time of the year! Summer turns into Autumn, days get shorter, and kids go back to school. This month is a great reminder that while children get ready to continue their education, adults can too! Because learning doesn’t stop after school. So, let’s learn! This blog brings to you a brief history of coloring books!

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From the first intentional coloring book made in the late 18th Century up until the early 20th Century, coloring books were created to be painted and even once other tools such as crayons were popularized, coloring books were made with the option to be painted or colored. 

Did you know that coloring books were created to make art education more accessible to all students, no matter their social or economic standing? It was recognized that coloring was important for conceptualization, cognition development, and useful for future professional skills. This is why, inspired by Joshua Reynolds, a British artist and Swiss educator, Johann Heinrich, coloring books emerged in Europe and the United States. In the 1700s and 1800s, the creation of coloring books played a major role in the "Democratization of Art”. This is more understandably known as making the creation and appreciation of art accessible to each and every person who wants to partake. 

Although coloring books were first established for educational purposes mainly for children, it was soon realized that they are greatly beneficial to learning about topics such as anatomy, programming, and physiology in higher-education settings. Coloring books also have political uses, such as using humor to understand politics and human rights movements, as well as female empowerment. 

Adult coloring books grew in popularity in the early 21st Century as a form of therapy. As technology and social media became super prevalent and at the tip of our fingers, coloring books allowed for a sense of childhood. A space away from the screen and a way to de-stress. Coloring books and coloring as an activity have been acknowledged for centuries as an incredible past-time for everyone. Whether to learn about a topic while enhancing cognitive skills, or to just take a much-needed break, coloring books were created to lend a helping hand. 

This September, as children head back to the classroom, remember that learning and developing skills doesn’t stop there. Children and adults alike benefit from coloring, whatever the topic may be. The Tiny Book Co.™ offers coloring books for everyone with an array of themes and subjects, so you can find what best suits your interests. So, take a break and grab a coloring book! Hey, maybe you’ll learn something!

The Neuroscience of Coloring: How Coloring Improves Brain Function

Coloring activates different parts of your brain, which is why it benefits people of all ages. While coloring, you’re choosing different colors, staying focused, and engaging in cognitive and motor coordination. Identifying and coloring the shapes and pictures activates the creativity part of your brain and uses the logical part of the brain as well. Using different parts of your brain, like when coloring, is a little like using and exercising different muscles while working out. What that means is that those pathways within your brain are going to be strengthened and will be faster and easier to use for other tasks. Similarly, just like working out our physical bodies is important, so is working out our brains! 

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The act of coloring is a repetitive one, but it also requires a certain attention to detail. Because of these two things, it means that you’re going to focus on what you’re doing at the moment and not what might have been bothering you during the day. At the same time, it is not an activity that requires so much attention that you can overexert yourself while doing it. Having that repetitive act and sustained concentration allows your brain to make stronger neural connections within itself faster over time. This can help overall brain health and may even slow cognitive decline as we age.

A fun fact about coloring is that it incorporates both sides of the brain. The left hemisphere is recognized as the analytical side linked with speech, reading, logic, and precision. The right hemisphere is believed to be connected with creativity, abstract thinking, perception, and intuition. Engaging both sides through activities such as coloring boosts the efficiency and operation of our brains, making it easier to learn and benefit our bodily functions. Activating both hemispheres simultaneously strengthens the link between the two sides, known as the corpus callosum. A solid corpus callosum can result in enhanced memory retention and problem-solving skills. This benefits other aspects of our lives, whether personal or professional. The ability for our brains to share information effectively reduces the stress and mental exhaustion of complex tasks. Indicating a more seamless and stressless experience of daily life.

Coloring is a great activity for kids because growing strong neural connections while the brain is developing sets up brain functionality in a positive direction. For adults, the benefits of coloring can be not only to strengthen but also to maintain mental cognition through stress-free, stimulating activity. The Tiny Book Co.™ is a great resource for children and adults to take some time and engage both hemispheres in a fun and beneficial way. The small pages enable stimulation that activates creativity, concentration, precision, and intuition without being overwhelming or time-consuming. With so many different themes, you can choose the ones that pique your and your kids' interest. Which keeps coloring a great mental exercise and, of course, fun!