A simple walking trick asks people to hunt for one color at a time, and mental health experts say it can pull attention away from phones and back into the real world.
Story Snapshot
- Color walking means picking one color, then spotting it in everyday surroundings during a walk.
- A licensed counselor says the practice builds focused attention and gets people to stop staring at their phones.
- A 2024 eye-tracking study found that paying close attention to nature during an urban walk lowered anxiety.
- No published trial has tested color hunting on its own, so the exact benefit of searching for color is still unproven.
What A Color Walk Actually Looks Like
The idea is simple. A person picks a single color before heading outside, then looks for that color in buildings, plants, cars, or clothing along the way. Licensed clinical professional counselor Cheryl Fisher told TIME that the practice “encourage[s] focused attention” and gives walkers a reason to “look up from your phone and pay attention to what’s in front of you”.
Fisher recommends stopping for a moment at each match instead of rushing from one colored object to the next. Stanford Humanities Center’s long-running “Color Walking” guide offers nearly identical instructions, telling participants to “let color be your guide” and to notice colors they might normally walk right past.
Where The Science Backs It Up
Researchers have tested a related idea: does paying close attention to your surroundings while walking change how you feel? A 2024 study from Bangor University had 117 people take a 45-minute urban walk while wearing eye-tracking glasses. Those told to focus on greenery, rather than gray buildings, reported lower anxiety and felt more mentally refreshed afterward.
That study backs the broader mechanism behind color walking: directing your eyes on purpose, rather than letting your mind wander, can change your mood. But the Bangor research tested attention to nature, not attention to a single color. No published study has isolated color hunting itself to see if it produces the same calming effect on its own.
What The Evidence Doesn’t Prove Yet
The TIME article includes a participant who described the walk as a way to “get out of my mind,” slow down, and return to the present moment. That account is personal, not measured. No researcher has tracked color walkers’ stress hormones, anxiety scores, or attention spans before and after the activity, the way scientists have done for nature walks and mindfulness programs.
That gap matters because color walking bundles several things together: walking itself, time away from a screen, slower pacing, and close observation. Any of those factors, not the color search specifically, could explain why people feel better afterward. Separating out which piece actually does the work would require a study that compares color hunting directly against plain walking or unguided observation.
Why The Idea Still Resonates
Even without a dedicated clinical trial, color walking fits into a well-documented pattern. Decades of research link time outdoors and directed attention to lower stress and better mood. A broader review of nature-based walking research covering 1,209 adults across 17 studies found consistent mental health improvements tied to outdoor movement.
That track record helps explain why a practitioner would recommend color hunting as a low-cost, screen-free habit, even while admitting it hasn’t been tested in isolation. For readers tired of being told to download another app or buy another gadget, the appeal is obvious: all it costs is a few minutes, open eyes, and a phone left in your pocket instead of your hand.
Anyone curious enough to try it needs no special training or equipment. Pick a color, step outside, and see what the world looks like when you’re actually looking at it.
Sources:
time.com, research.bangor.ac.uk, healthshots.com
