According to research by UK shoe retailer Brantano, shopping for shoes is as good for a woman’s cardiovascular health as a vigorous aerobic workout. (HA! I knew it all along.)
The study shows that finding the perfect pair of shoes can have the effect of almost doubling a woman’s heart-rate to 120 bpm — whereas shopping for other apparel items that has negligible effect on heart-rate.
Best yet? It’s a domino-effect, so you can burn calories even when your friend buys shoes — or just from ‘window’ shopping — as the study also shows that when a shopper falls in love with a pair of shoes, the heart-rates of the people around her, including strangers, also rises.
(I wonder if I can write shoe-shopping off on my taxes as a health-care expense.)