Remember that feeling of opening up a brand new box of crayons as a kid? All of the paper labels were still tightly wrapped around the crayons, and none of them needed to be taped back together yet. All the colors were freshly sharpened and the same height. You'd never seen such perfection. Don't be jealous of your six-year-old self; no matter how long it's been since you last smelt the undeniable scent of Crayola, you can still get that same rush of excitement and pure joy with adult coloring books.

1. Helps You Unwind After One Of Those Days

Everyone has had a day where you just can't answer one more work e-mail or solve one more complex math problem. Instead of stressing yourself out and flooding your mind with anxiety during your five-minute break, throw on some music and crack open a coloring book. You'll let your creative juices flow and keep your hands busy to calm your nerves, while your mind relaxes.

2. Provides A Soothing Break From Technology

Nearly every aspect of our lives nowadays involves technology of some kind. We use screens to communicate, get directions, access news, order food, turn in work, watch entertainment, download music, and basically every other daily activity. You're reading this article on a screen of some sort right now. Technology is constantly being pushing under our noses, so it’s refreshing to go back to basic, tangible paper every once in a while.

3. Keeps Your Body Busy and Your Mind Alert

If your mind tends to wander like mine, it can be hard to focus on the necessary task at hand. Coloring allows me to keep my focus on an important task at hand because I can still move around by doing a simple motion I don't have to think about. If I need to read a boring book for school, I can turn on the audio book version and actually comprehend the information while coloring, whereas if I was reading it normally, I'd have to keep rereading paragraphs because my attention would waver. I've found this also works for conference calls, phone conversations, and while listening to videos explaining the more lengthy scientific theories and history units.

4. Gives You A Long-Lasting Project

Personally, I always like to have a fun, easy project to continually work on. Sometimes it's in the form of scrap-booking, putting together a puzzle, or organizing a basement store room. Unlike some of these projects, coloring is very easy to transport, clean up after, and stop at a moment's notice. With a couple dozen pages in each book, a large variety of books accessible, and very reasonable prices online, coloring is a cheap, easy project to start.

5. Rekindles Some Childhood Joy And Imagination

Being the peculiar introvert I've always been, I remember being completely captivated and thoroughly entertaining myself for hours as a kid with only a couple crayons, a sheet of stickers, and a piece of construction paper. I fashioned elaborate stories with lively characters and probably very confusing plot lines. I've found some old drawings of mine from when I was about four, and I wish I could see what was going through my very animated mind when I made it. I found one sheet that just had about thirty stickers of Snow White's face on it and a few circles around the cluster. Whatever the story was, I know happy and satisfied when making it, and I've been recapturing some of that simple satisfaction and imagination recently through the same classic activity.

Coloring might not be for you, but I definitely recommend giving it a try. The vibrant colors stimulate your senses, and you get a wonderful sense of satisfaction from seeing black and white outlines gradually come to life. So whether or not coloring ends up being a new favorite hobby, by trying it you'll still have an excuse to buy a fresh box of crayons or colored pencils; either way, you really can't lose.