It can be fun and exciting to get something new. Even if you’re shopping for things you need for your home, buying something nice can make you feel like you’ve done something. Research from 2014 shows that shopping helps people feel better and gives them a sense of control when they are sad. It’s one thing to go shopping for fun or because you need something. Shopping because it makes you feel better could be a sign of something else. It can make the brain release the same feel-good endorphins that other rewarding activities, especially dopamine, do. Research from 2021 shows that the dopamine system in the brain is one of the main causes of depression symptoms.
Research has shown that making choices about what to buy can help us feel like we have more control over our surroundings. But people hesitate to spend money on shopping, so fret not and check out these sites for coupons. For your fashion shopping, you can find discounts & promo codes at FashionSaviour. Shoe lovers can buy footwear also by using discount codes listed at OffOnShoes. But, if you are looking to buy sports items, visit RedeemOnSports, in order to save money by using your favorite sports brand’s coupon codes available there. It can also make you feel less sad. A study published in 2014 in the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that retail therapy not only makes people feel better right away but can also help them feel better in the long run.
The study found that sadness is usually linked to a feeling that our lives are not in our own hands but rather in the hands of other people or things. Shopping can give you a sense of control and independence because it gives you choices and results. This is also true for any sadness we may still feel.
Visualizing Takes Our Minds Off Of Our Worries
“The smell of something new, the bright lights, and the colorful displays all work together to give us a creative, sensory experience that can take us out of our own wo if only for a short time,” says Dr. Bea. “This also works online. Those perfectly stocked and personally chosen online products can help us put ourselves in satisfying environments in our minds.”
Athletes, for instance, have found that this kind of visualizing can make them feel excited and less anxious.”
Even Before A Sale Is Made, Dopamine Is Made
Dr. Bea says that even if you don’t buy anything, browsing, scrolling, or window shopping can make you feel better. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain that makes you feel good. It is released when you think about getting a reward or treat in the future. Dopamine makes you want to keep looking for things that make you feel good. “Some people think the dopamine is released when you get a reward or buy something, but it starts happening before you make a purchase when you’re excited about all the options,” he says. “It’s all about the trip.”
Dr. Bea gives a great example of how dopamine is released earlier in the shopping process. He says, “It’s that.” He also says that you don’t always have to buy something to feel happy because your mind has already taken you on an exciting trip. In that way, the risk is not very high. It might be even more rewarding to spend less money.
Waiting for your package to arrive is another way that online shopping can make you feel dopamine. Think about retail subscriptions, where you might not know exactly what’s coming in the box. The fact that you can’t plan for it makes you more excited. And because the reward is random, you get excited, which is caused by dopamine.
How Saving Money Makes You Feel
If you like shopping as therapy, there is another way to do it. If you save up for that reward instead of buying something right away with a credit card, it can also be good for your mind. Using the theory of anticipation, saving for a reward gives you something to look forward to, which makes you feel excited and causes dopamine to be released over time.
Of course, you don’t want to go overboard with your shopping. Some people have trouble with shopping. Many people can get hooked on it. Dr. Bea says that shopping stops being helpful and starts being a problem when it becomes the only way to deal with anxiety, stress, or loss and when it’s hard to stop. Shopping addiction is also called oniomania, compulsive buying disorder (CBD), buying-shopping disorder (BSD), and pathological buying, among other things. It is thought that about 5% of American consumers buy things over and over again. The number of people who buy things they don’t need has gone up a lot in developed countries and as online shopping has grown.
He also says that this disorder has a lot in common with sex addiction and gambling addiction, which are also hard to control. There are also some similarities between the need to shop all the time and the need to get high from drugs or alcohol. People who shop too much may also have blackouts similar to those caused by drinking, where they don’t remember making purchases. That’s how shopping benefits people and gives peace of mind.
