Coloring for Relaxation: What Research Says

Coloring books for grown-ups are often marketed as a way to unwind. But does a quiet stretch with colored pencils really help you feel calmer, and what does the research actually show?

Here is a plain-language tour of the studies, what they found, and where the evidence is still thin. The short version: several small experiments suggest coloring can ease anxiety in the moment, the results are not all in agreement, and coloring is a pleasant habit rather than a treatment.

Where the research started

According to Knox College (opens in a new tab), Nancy Curry and psychology professor Tim Kasser were the first to investigate whether coloring reduces anxiety, in research that began as Curry's senior project. Their paper appeared in 2005. According to the published abstract (opens in a new tab), 84 undergraduate students went through a brief anxiety-raising task and were then randomly assigned to color a mandala, color a plaid design, or color freely on a blank sheet of paper.

Anxiety dropped by roughly the same amount in the mandala and plaid groups, and both groups improved more than the free-coloring group. The authors suggested that coloring a reasonably complex, structured pattern might bring on a calm, meditative state. The Knox College news story notes that participants colored for 20 minutes, and it shares a line Kasser was quoted as saying elsewhere: "It's fun to color, and you can't be having fun and be anxious at the same time very easily."

What later studies found

Researchers have since tested coloring in different ways. Some results line up with the original study and some do not.

A week of daily coloring

In a study from the University of Otago, Flett and colleagues (2017) (opens in a new tab) randomly assigned 104 female university students to color daily or to do logic puzzles daily for one week. Afterward, the coloring group reported lower depressive symptoms and anxiety, while the puzzle group did not. The authors described this as preliminary evidence and suggested coloring might be an inexpensive, accessible self-help tool for people who are not in clinical care.

Coloring, attention and creativity

Holt, Furbert and Sweetingham (2019) (opens in a new tab) ran two experiments with undergraduates (47 and 52 people). Each person tried both coloring and a comparison activity. In both experiments, coloring reduced anxiety and increased mindfulness compared with the control activity and with starting scores. After coloring, participants also did better on a selective attention task and came up with more original ideas on a creativity test.

When the design did not matter

Not every study found that mandalas are special. Mantzios and Giannou (2018) (opens in a new tab) compared 10 minutes of mandala coloring with 10 minutes of free drawing. Anxiety went down over time in both groups, with no difference between them, and neither activity changed mindfulness scores. In a second experiment, students who colored mandalas while hearing mindfulness-style guidance showed a drop in anxiety that the unguided group did not. In an exploratory analysis, people who liked the guidance showed gains in mindfulness, while those who disliked it did not.

What the reviews say

Single studies can mislead, so it helps to look at reviews that pool results.

• Mandalas versus free drawing: A 2022 meta-analysis by Jakobsson Støre and Jakobsson (opens in a new tab) combined eight studies with 578 adult participants. It did not find that mandala coloring reduced anxiety significantly more than free drawing. Less precise studies tended to report bigger effects, which the authors read as a possible sign of bias toward finding an effect. Their conclusion was that the two approaches seem about equally effective and that more high-quality studies are needed before anyone can make confident recommendations.
• Mindful art activities for students: A 2025 meta-analysis by Zhu and colleagues (opens in a new tab) pooled 17 studies with 1,548 students. Mindfulness-based art activities, most often mandala coloring, were linked to a small-to-moderate reduction in anxiety. Mandala coloring on its own showed a smaller effect than other mindfulness-based art activities. The authors pointed out that results varied a lot between studies and that most samples were small.

The honest limits

Taken together, the research is encouraging but modest. Keep these caveats in mind:

• Small, similar groups. Many studies used university students, often mostly women, so the results may not apply to everyone.
• Short sessions, short-term effects. Many experiments measured how people felt right after a single short session, not weeks or months later.
• Self-reported feelings. Many outcomes are questionnaires about how anxious someone feels in the moment.
• Hard-to-hide conditions. Participants know whether they are coloring, which makes a true placebo comparison difficult.
• Mixed findings on design. Whether structured patterns beat free drawing is still unsettled.

Coloring is also not a substitute for care. The National Institute of Mental Health (opens in a new tab) explains that feeling anxious is a normal part of life, but anxiety disorders involve more than occasional worry and can get worse over time. If worry or low mood is persistent or getting in the way of daily life, talk with a doctor or a licensed mental health professional. In the US, anyone in crisis can call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

How to try coloring for calm

The studies do not give a precise recipe, but they suggest a few sensible ways to make coloring a restful habit:

1. Set aside a short, regular window. Some of the experiments above used sessions of 10 to 20 minutes, and one asked people to color daily for a week.
2. Pick what you enjoy. The 2022 meta-analysis found mandalas and free drawing worked about equally well, so choose a structured pattern, a nature scene or a blank page based on what feels good to you.
3. Let it be low-stakes. There is no wrong color. If you notice yourself fussing over perfection, switch to a simpler page.
4. Try a little focus on the moment. Noticing the feel of the pencil and the colors filling the shapes is in the spirit of the guided coloring studies, but skip it if it feels like a chore. Enjoyment may matter.
5. Notice how you feel. A quick before-and-after check-in can help you learn whether coloring actually helps you.

If you like intricate, symmetrical designs, a book of mandalas and patterns such as Enchanted Designs gives you plenty to choose from, but a free printable works just as well for a first try.

Try it

• Print a free mandala from our mandala coloring pages.
• Prefer something less structured? Browse free pattern coloring pages.
• New to circular designs? Read How to Color a Mandala.
• Ready for intricate pages? See How to Tackle Detailed Adult Coloring Pages.