Too much shopping ups stress level

Carrying heavy shopping bags increases mental stress, according to a new study. Researchers have found that shoppers physically weighed down with groceries, clothes or gifts subconsciously thought more about serious or weightier subjects, the Telegraph reported. The new study suggests shoppers hoping to stock up on cut-price deals may get less satisfaction than they bargained for. Academics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the National University of Singapore discovered that heavier shopping loads led to "more important and more stressful" thoughts. The study concluded that this was due to the brain being wired in such a way that physical weight influenced a person's "psychological weight". The finding will appear study in the forthcoming edition of the Journal of Consumer Research.