Heard of “retail therapy”? Guess what, now it means something very favorable to those who practice it!

A lot of people throw out the term “retail therapy,” as in, “My spouse is at the mall engaged in retail therapy.”  Well, it’s not just a throw-away line any more, for research recently published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health says that retail therapy literally appears to lead to people living longer.  Adults in the study who went out of the home for food, clothes, or other items more than once a week—or even simply to window-shop—had a substantially lower risk of death than those who didn’t. 

The findings were widely reported in the media that "elderly [people] who shopped every day have 27 percent less risk of death than the least frequent shoppers. Men benefited more from everyday shopping than women." Even after researchers controlled for physical limitations and varied health conditions of subjects, the findings were still the same for subjects even in differing groups with respect to healthiness and age. 

Commentary on the outcomes associated with retail therapy by researchers and gerontologists attempted to explain part of the findings by noting that shoppers engaged in more physical activity, consumed fresher food, and exercised extended cognitive activities otherwise not tapped at home.  While some of these factors are undeniable true, it seems to me that much of the impact of retail therapy can also be associated with a strong psychic reward that comes from being out, getting somewhere, and, yes, shopping--all which is very positive, stimulating, and life-promoting. 

As an undergraduate I encountered a terrific, pivotal professor in my undergraduate psychology program who made a compelling case that life is--quite literally--a series of problem-solving challenges, and that it’s the various problems we run-into in life that give our lives meaning and purpose.  I think he was right—and if you ask me—this research now seems to indicate that that effect seems to persist even into later life for the elderly just the same! 

I started out by noting that these data show that shopping likely leads to people living longer.  In the world of Big Pharma there are a lot of pills that can’t make that claim; and it terms of what else there is in Big Medicine, well, you would have to go a long way before finding other regimes that are devoid of expensive insurance plans, work so well, potentially cost so little, and don’t involve shots.  I think I’d like to be signed up for that kind of health plan!