Shopping during the holidays can be an all day event and exhausting overall. Wearing comfortable shoes when shopping, preferably walking or running shoes, can help increase your comfort and prevent ankle and foot pain that can result from wearing high heels – especially on hard surfaces, such as the floors in shopping malls.
If shopping for a lot of gifts and/or for a long period of time, be sure to lighten the load with frequent trips to the car to drop off purchases. This will provide some additional exercise and relieve the stress on your back muscles. Also, consider using a shopping cart or getting help to carry packages to your car.
You can ease the physical and mental stress of shopping by planning ahead, creating a list of your intended purchases, and avoiding prime shopping times to decrease wait times that can increase or exceed standing/walking time tolerances.
Here are some tips on the proper and safe way to balance your holiday shopping:
Distribute the weight of shopping bags equally on both sides of your body.
Consider carrying a small backpack rather than a heavy purse.