Study: Frequent Shoppers Live Longer

Study: Frequent Shoppers Live Longer

It’s a shopaholic’s dream. Serous research now suggests your favorite activity may contribute to a longer life.

That’s right. Scientists in Taiwan looked at the shopping habits of 1,841 mature adults, and discovered something odd. Over a 10-year period, people who shopped often were 27% less likely to die than those who rarely went shopping.1

Shopping? It may sound a little crazy at first, but here’s why it makes sense…

Frequent shopping encourages lots of healthy social interaction. It gets you out and moving, so it’s also a form of gentle exercise. And it may be linked to eating fresher, healthier foods.

The Taiwanese study seems to bear this out. Frequent shopping was linked to a lower death rate in spite of the fact that nearly two-thirds of the frequent shoppers had two or more long-term health conditions.

And while we usually think of women as being more avid shoppers, men actually received a greater benefit from frequent shopping. In the study, women who frequently shopped had a 23% lower risk of death. But men’s risk dropped 28%.

Shopping is linked to more than just a lower risk of death. Do the right kind of shopping and you could boost your health… and the health of those around you, too.

A brand new study shows that much of what we thought we knew about jobs – and their impact on health – may be completely wrong.

For years, everyone has wanted big company jobs. Big companies pay higher salaries … offer more benefits… and more often provide health insurance. So communities with lots of big-company jobs should be healthier, right?

Not true, say scientists at Baylor and Louisiana State Universities. In fact, they found just the opposite is true. The healthiest people live in counties with the healthiest small business environment.

Researchers looked at more than 3,000 counties and parishes across the U.S. They found people were healthier where small businesses thrive.

One reason may be that most big companies don’t offer the advantages they used to. According to the study, big-company wages – in real dollars – went down a third between 1988 and 2003. Many big company jobs have been cut to as little as 30 hours. And big employers have cut insurance plans to the bone – or dropped them completely.

So the “healthy advantage” big companies may have once offered simply doesn’t exist anymore.

On the other hand, communities with a high percentage of small businesses are thriving. The researchers discovered that small businesses are more likely to support community services and projects – such as stop-smoking programs, local farmers markets and youth activities. All of which promote better health.

Shopping at local, independent businesses builds support for those programs. It builds a stronger sense of community. And it helps improve your own health… and that of your neighbors, too.

Yours in continued good health,
Dr Kenneth Woliner, M.D.
1 Chang, Y., et al, Frequent shopping by men and women increases survival in the older Taiwanese population,” J Epidemiol Community Health doi:10.1136/jech.2010.126698.
2 Blanchard, T.C., et al, “The health and wealth of US counties: how the small business environment impacts alte
ative measures of development,” Cambridge J Regions Econ Soc. 2011; doi: 10.1093/cjres/rsr034.