Going shoe shopping really is good for the fairer sex. A new study has found that buying a pair of high heels makes a woman's heart beat as fast as if she has just had a gruelling workout.

Dr Linda Papadopoulos, a television psychologist, carried out her study on a group of 35 women and found that trying on a pair of heels makes a woman's pulse rate nearly double -- to 120 beats per minute.

This is not just a one-off phenomenon � it occurs every time a girl straps on a pair of shoes she's just dying to buy.

Dr Papadopoulos says that shoes increase a woman's heartbeat because they bring out a 'socialising and nurturing instinct'.

"Shoes have a particular draw to women. They are emotionally evocative and bring out women's socialising and nurturing instincts," The Mirror quoted her, as saying.

Dr Papadopoulos conducted the study on behalf of the shoe chain, Brantano.