Faith and your physical health
Many scientific studies have found a positive correlation between religious practices, especially church attendance, and better physical health. Here’s some information on this from a fact sheet prepared by Harold Koenig, M.D., on research related to faith, prayer, and health:

Religion and blood pressure

• 40% reduction in diastolic hypertension (high blood pressure) among those who both attend religious services weekly and prayer or read the Bible daily.

• 20% reduction in mortality from coronary artery disease among religiously active men in Israel, after controlling for multiple risk factors; 10,000 men in Israel followed for 23 years.

• Persons who attended religious services weekly or more and who exercised regularly, didn’t smoke, and got 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night, were 76% less likely to die of cancer during a 13 year follow-up.

• Weekly attenders at religious services have a 49% lower likelihood of having high IL-6 levels (i.e., impaired immune function) (42% lower after controlling for age, sex, race, education, chronic illness, physical functioning).
• Attending religious services more than once/week associated with a 66% reduction in likelihood of having a high IL-6 level and 68% reduction in mortality.

• 14 times lower death rates for older adults during the first six months after undergoing open heart surgery among those with both high social support and high religious coping.
• Stronger religious beliefs associated with fewer complications and shorter hospital stays among patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

• Patients not affiliated with a religious denomination spent an average of 25 days at Duke Hospital, compared to 11 days for those with a religious affiliation.
• African-Americans who prayed, meditated and read the Bible a lot during hospitalization spend 5 days on average in long-term care settings (nursing homes) during the 10 months after hospital discharge, compared to nearly 50 days for those who prayed and read the Bible a small amount.

• 46% reduction in death rates for weekly attenders at religious services compared to those attending less than weekly; 28% reduction after controlling for other risk factors.
• 7 year greater longevity for whites who attend religious services more than weekly compared to non-attenders; 14 year greater longevity for African-Americans.

It is possible that a primary reason that church attendance and better health appear linked is because active involvement in a faith community—as opposed to being “religious” or “spiritual” on your own or simply “believing” in one thing or another—has positive emotional, sociological, and spiritual benefits, and it often encourages a healthier lifestyle.

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