47 Health Benefits of Prayer - Part 4

By Andrew Newberg

Religious beliefs and activities can have a profound impact on our mental and physical well being by reducing stress, improving resistance to diseases, enhancing memory and mental function, and helping us to lead longer lives.

Many studies have looked at how health and well-being are influenced by having spiritual beliefs, praying, and attending religious services, and these have found a wide range of benefits. The Mind Health Report compiled a summary of these benefits.

32. Improving Family Relationships

Compared to non-religious teenagers, those who find meaning and importance in religion, and continue to do so during their teen years, experience a better relationship with each parent. And, the whole family has a more satisfying relationship. However, when parents try to enforce beliefs that the children do not share or easily accept, relationships can worsen.

SOURCE: Sociological Quarterly

41. Buffering Against Stress and Negative Emotions

In the Netherlands, researchers at the University of Amsterdam looked at the effect of a religious upbringing on neuroticism, which means a tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depression, and to view life situations as threatening or hopelessly difficult. People who have such a disposition are more adversely affected by stress.

The study examined adults over the age of 25, including 4,369 twins and 1,304 siblings from 2,698 families. It found that people who had a religious upbringing were less likely to manifest neuroticism, even if they were genetically predisposed to the condition.

SOURCE: Twin Research & Human Genetics

45. Reducing Hostility

Researchers in New York surveyed more than 1,600 people to gain a better understanding of how religion protects health. They found that religious beliefs and practices increase forgiveness and forgiveness leads to reduced hostility which, in turn, leads to better health.

Other research has established that hostility increases wear and tear on a human body and contributes to unhealthy cholesterol, elevated blood pressure and blood sugar, and hormonal changes that impair optimum function. As a result, reactions triggered by hostility increase risk for all the major diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, and shorten life.

SOURCE: Journal of Religion and Health

-- Full text of article: 47 Health Benefits of Prayer (12MB)

--Andrew Newberg is a founder of neurotheology, the study of the relationship between spiritual phenomena and the human brain.