June 18th is National Splurge Day: 3 Ways to Spoil Yourself

June 18th is National Splurge Day…We’re taught to practice restraint in everything we do, but sometimes we need to let loose and do something for ourselves without feeling like we’ve done something wrong. Here are 3 ways to spoil yourself without feeling guilty for overindulging.

Shopping

There are many reasons why we spend money and there are many reasons we don’t spend money. One thing is for certain: we like to spend money on things we want. Though the study hasn’t been officially published, researchers at the University of Michigan believe shopping can reduce residual sadness. Since Splurge Day is coming up, we’re going to give shopping the benefit of the doubt and give you the green light to splurge on whatever dress, piece of furniture or shoes you’ve been dying for. Buying something new might just lift your spirits – if they need lifting.

Spa

A day at the spa doesn’t need much of a defense. By definition, it has countless benefits. British researchers found massage can reduce anxiety, but massage – more specifically, touch – releases the hormone “oxytocin,” which, new research shows, can keep you young. The study published in the journal Nature Communications was done on mice injected with the hormone – both young and old mice. Muscles in the old mice were actually repaired by the hormone while there was no effect on the young mice. This is not hard evidence showing more touching will make humans young, but a good massage is worth splurging on if there’s even a possibility it keeps us young. So please, splurge on that day at the spa.

Food

There’s not much evidence eating too much of anything is good for you, but there are foods we are trained to eat sparingly – but some of those items can actually be good for you. One of them is chocolate. It contains flavonoid antioxidants which are considered to be good for your heart and blood vessels. With some evidence to back that up, Swedish researchers studied its effects on women who had suffered heart attacks and found the more they ate, the greater their chance of survival. It sounds too good to be true, but any reason to indulge in chocolate is a good reason.

We can’t eat, buy and do anything we want every day, but every once in a while it feels good to indulge; on Splurge Day, it’s ok to do just that. Happy Splurge Day!