Does religious observance heal you?
I recently read about a study at Duke University which found out that religious observance – going to services weekly – reduced the risk of dying over a period of six years by more than a quarter.
I did a search and could not find the original paper so I’ll just make some suggestions that the research may be a non-sequitor (it does not follow). I commented in another blog that Seventh-Day Adventists have a life expectancy of about nine years longer than others. This is due to their better health habits and is easily demonstrated.
So the question is who were the control group in this study. Did they all eat the same foods or exercise the same amount and so on. I did read a review paper which claimed that in many papers showing such effects the results were checked for such differences in health habits. However, given that I cannot get hold of the original papers to examine the methodology myself I’ll keep an open mind on this issue.
Interestingly, religious observance made 1000 people with terminal illness feel better but not live longer:
"A nine-year study of more than 1,000 seriously ill hospitalized men found that those who most strongly relied on their religious faith to cope had lower rates of depression and a wider network of supportive friends , yet they did not live any longer than patients who did not draw upon spiritual/religious resources to cope. The researchers commented that dependence on a strong personal spiritual/religious faith, while not adding years to life, may add life to years."
Moreover:
A recent two-year study of elderly hospitalized patients found that spiritual distress such as feeling abandoned by God increased the risk of dying by as much as 28%.
So again perhaps we need to examine the type of spirituality people have and anyway truly spiritual people are spiritual for its own case. As the Sufi poet said (my extremely rough translation):
Dear God, if I love you out of fear of hell send me to the depths of hell, If I love you out of desire for heaven, never allow me entry to heaven,
But since I love you to love you, allow me to love you.
By the way one of the best ways to be healthier is to eat at least three apples a day.
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