Colouring-in could improve your mental health, new research has shown.
A University of Otago department of psychology study published in the Creativity Research Journal showed daily colouring-in could improve some negative psychological conditions in adults.
Joint author Dr Celia Lie said 115 women aged 18 to 36 were given either a colouring-in booklet or a book of puzzles and asked to colour or work on the puzzles for 10 minutes a day.
After a week, those who had been colouring-in reported lower levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety.
Both groups showed a small increase in mindfulness which suggested that was not the driving factor behind the improvements in the depressive symptoms and anxiety in the colouring-in group, Lie said.