Health Benefits of Shopping?

I’m not trying to encourage any bad habits, but I must be the messenger of this potentially dangerous news: research shows that trolling the malls or department store-lined streets of a major city for the purpose of shopping has health benefits!

A 2008 study by Britain’s Brunel University showed that shopping is associated with increased activity in the part of the brain linked to positive thinking and pleasure. This is no surprise to those of us who have felt that release of mood-lifting endorphins as we spy that pair of beautiful earrings or sweater that we know would look so good on us. Indeed, research shows that levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter released during pleasurable experiences, can rise sharply when shopping. This mood enhancement, along with the social fulfillment many find when shopping with a friend, boosts the immune system and also helps keeps the brain agile.

All of this is based on the assumption that you enjoy shopping. If you experience shopping as a drag, a drain, or a waste of time and money, then, be assured, a flood of feel-good endorphins coursing through your body will not be your experience.

In a different study, researchers at MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford strapped volunteers to an fMRI machine and recorded the brain’s reaction to photos of various products. When the subjects viewed items they wanted to buy, a whoosh of dopamine flooded to the nucleus accumbens, known as the reward and pleasure center of the brain. However, the nucleus accumbens is also the part of the brain associated with addiction…as in compulsive shopping addiction.

Here’s the best news: researchers found that the same positive effects of shopping can be had when simply window shopping. So, if you want the feel-good, but don’t want the spending-pain, leave the wallet at home, grab a buddy for an overdue visit, and enjoy the walking, the conversation, and the healthy pleasure of your favorite shopping mecca.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Jenna W.

6:17PM PDT on Oct 21, 2011

interesting!

send a green star

Michele W.

7:26AM PDT on Jun 20, 2011

Thank you

Brenda T.

7:36AM PDT on Jun 6, 2011

Thanks for confirming my theories!

Hugh M.

1:47AM PDT on Jun 4, 2011

I must be really healthy then!

Wioletta S.

1:48AM PDT on May 25, 2011

super

Howard C.

8:51AM PDT on May 17, 2011

My wife's been telling me this for years! Shopping is one thing, walking around the shops is clearly very good for you. Buying things, no that is another matter!

Ann F.

7:00AM PDT on May 10, 2011

i knew it!

12:22PM PDT on May 6, 2011

Hey. Good stuff.

David Erik B.

4:43AM PDT on May 4, 2011

Yes, I hope enough of the good.

Berny P.

7:19AM PDT on Apr 30, 2011

thanks