Couple shopping The researchers, from the National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, asked around 1,850 Taiwanese men and women, all aged 65 or more, about their shopping habits. They asked the study participants how often they went shopping, and evaluated the participants' intellectual and physical abilities using questionnaires. Other possible factors including age, gender, education, ethnicity, financial and employment status were also taken into account. Then, by checking national death registers, the researchers looked at how long the study participants lived.
Some study participants – 17% – shopped every single day; 22% did it two and four times a week; but the biggest proportion never or infrequently shopping during the week (48%). The rest – 13% – shopped once a week. Those who went shopping more than once a week were also more likely to have better physical and mental health, but they were also more likely to be smokers and drinkers – and the more often they shopped, the less likely they were to have died when the records were checked.
Overall, those who shopped on a daily basis were 27% less likely to die compared to those who shopped the least frequently. Older men, particularly, seemed to gain the most benefit from regular retail therapy sessions – they were 28% less likely to die with regular shopping, compared to 23% less likelihood for women in the same group.
But before you rush out to spend your pension, be aware that it could be that healthier people tend to do more shopping, rather than shopping itself being the secret to longevity.
There are reasons to believe that shopping may improve life expectancy – it makes you more likely to eat healthy fresh food if you shop regularly, you’re more likely to interact and socialise with others, you’re more likely to get exercise by walking – but the authors cannot be sure as to what causes the link until further research is done.
First published April 7, 2011