Coloring books for adults have seemingly become a new fad for the nation’s white-collar workers to destress, but doctors warn that overuse of the books might cause physical problems and suggest limiting their use.
The coloring books focus on geometrical and floral patterns, as well as figures for coloring, with increasing claims that the process provides emotional release and calming of the mind, achieving the effects of art therapy.
Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital department of ophthalmology director Chen Ying-shan (陳瑩山) said that the department recently saw a patient who has used the method 20 minutes at a time three times a day for two weeks before coming to the hospital complaining of sore and puffy eyes with accompanying sensations of pain and numbness.
The patient has greater than minus-8 diopters in both eyes and has developed minor symptoms of presbyopia, the department said.
“The coloring books require users to focus on detail and necessitate close scrutiny,” Chen said.
“Long-term close scrutiny can cause the eye muscles to become overly taut and might cause vision issues and discomfort,” Chen said, adding, however, that after using ciliary muscle relaxant for a month the patient has fully recovered.
Chen suggests a 33cm distance from coloring books and a time limit of 20 minutes per day with at least a 30-minute break after coloring, or coloring before going to sleep, as the calming effect might aid sleep quality.
He also said that those electing to use coloring books should be sure to eat lots of green vegetables for their lutein content, which has a direct relationship to eye health.
Cheng Hsin Hospital doctor Yuan Wei (袁瑋) said that coloring focuses the attention of the drawer on the image to be colored, adding that it might decrease stress and calm the nerves.
However, Yuan said that coloring, like sports or carving, only offers temporary relief and if people have experienced anxiety or depression for more than a month, they should seek professional help.
According to books.com.tw, coloring books for adults accounted for half of the top 10 titles on their best-sellers list last week.
The Chinese version of Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford’s coloring book Secret Garden has been No. 1 on the online bookstore’s Chinese-language best-sellers list for four weeks.
Last week, five of the 10 best-selling titles on the list were coloring books for adults. A copy of Secret Garden was being sold every 30 seconds on the online bookstore last week and more than 1,000 pre-orders for Basford’s coloring book Enchanted Forest were placed within three hours of its release this month.
Books.com.tw executives said that 90 percent of coloring book purchases were made by women from 27 to 44 years of age.
An office worker surnamed Lin said she heard about the coloring books from friends and wants to try it because she thinks coloring can help to relieve work pressure.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS