Friday, January 14, 2005
Can praying really make you live longer?
New research from the US - a country currently undergoing a religious revival - shows that regular churchgoers live longer than non-believers.
A 12-year study from the University of Iowa tracking mortality rates of more than 550 adults over age 65 found that those who attend services at least once a week were over three times more likely to live longer than those who never darkened the studded oak door. Psychology professor Susan Lutgendorf, who conducted the survey, says: "There's something beneficial involved in the act of religious attendance, whether it's the group interaction or just the exercise to get out of the house."
Over one in three of participants who never attended church died before the end of the study. By comparison, over eight out of 10 twice-weekly churchgoers survived. Regular attendance was associated with lower levels of Interleukin-6, a chemical linked to age-related diseases and stronger immune systems, plus reduced risk of heart disease.
But could it be that churchgoers just choose a safer existence and so reduce their health risks? While the researchers acknowledged that regular worshippers may be more generally abstemious, they insisted they had factored in these variants. Report co-author Robert Wallace even suggested that GPs prescribe a course of a church attendance for patients - to be taken at least once a week.
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