Thursday, July 24, 2003
Pray Often, Live Longer
A review showed that 20-year old Americans can expect to live 6.6 years longer if they attend religious services at least once a week. Now Harold G. Koenig, who teaches psychiatry at Duke University, reports that elderly people who are not disabled run a 47 percent greater risk of dying before long if they are not engaged in regular prayer, meditation or Bible study.
Koenig is the director of the Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health and editor-in-chief of Research News in Science and Theology. Discussing his long-term study with a sample group up 4,000 men and women above the age of 65, he related in an interview that praying and attending divine service regularly seem to result in a "40 percent reduction in the likelihood of high blood pressure."
Religiously active Americans of advanced age smoke and drink less than others, feel more at peace with themselves and--as Koenig phrased it -- "at least perceive to have more social support."
"When people pray, their fear of death goes down," Koenig went on. Equally important, active faith mitigates the grief over the death of a husband, wife, relative or friend. "The believer can cope better with a loss because he knows the loved one to be in God's good care."
Loneliness is perhaps the most horrible experience in old age. Here again, a life of worship helps, according to Koenig: "When you know that God is present you no longer feel that lonely." This corresponds to Luther's insight. He made it clear that he conversed with God as with a friend.
As Utsch, the German theologian, reminded Europeans recently, "Faith and prayer relativize the yardsticks of a society fixated on accomplishment and adventure. At the same time, faith and prayer can protect you from feeling inferior because of misfortune, sickness or the handicaps of old age."
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