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Benefits of Prayer
Less Depression, Smoking, And Alcohol Abuse
In a study of more than five hundred African-American men conducted
by Wayne State University in Detroit, significant correlation between
the participants' religious involvement and their health. The
researchers identified a number of indicators of true religious
commitment, including overall religiosity and church attendance. They
found these were linked to various beneficial health effects, such as
less depression, little or no smoking, and infrequency of alcohol
consumption. (Source: November 1994 issue of the Journal of the National
Medical Association)
Healthier Mothers And Babies
Maternity patients with a strong religious commitment, and their
newborns, who were studied at the Department of Family Medicine, East
Carolina University, had fewer medical complications than maternity
patients without a religious affiliation. (Source: November 1994 issue
of Southern Medical Journal)
Protection From Colon
And Rectal Cancer
In an Australian study of patients with cancer of the colon or
rectum, 715 cancer patients were compared with 727 "controls" without
cancer.
The researchers found that the respondents who saw themselves as
most religious were less likely to have cancer than those who were not
as religious. In other words, self-perceived "religiousness" was a
statistically significant protective factor against the disease!
Another interesting finding in this study was that self-reported or
perceived religiousness was associated with median survival times of
sixty-two months. In contrast, those patients who reported themselves as
"non-religious" had a median survival time of only fifty-two months.
(Source: November 1993 issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine)
Improved Coping With Breast Cancer
A number of studies have associated a deep religious faith with an
ability to cope more effectively with cancer, including breast cancer.
Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San
Antonio published a study about the impact of deep faith on the
condition of women with breast cancer. They found that with a group of
Anglo-American patients, "intrinsic religiousness" was a strong
predictor of spiritual well-being and hope- both of which are important
factors for successfully coping with cancer. (Source: Oncologocial
Nurse's Forum, September 1993)
A Healthier Emotional Balance
A study at Brigham
Young University in Provo, Utah, ranked participating young men and
women as high, medium, or low in the quality of their personal religious
commitment. Those in the high religious category, regardless of their
religious denomination, scored highest for self-esteem, emotional
maturity, and nondepression. (Source: June 1993 issue of Psychological
Reports)
Lower Blood Pressure, Healthier Cardiovascular System And Reduced Stress
A commitment to maintain significant social ties, including
marriage and religious community involvements -and a willingness to act
on such commitments-can have tremendous beneficial effects on health.
A study on this issue, involving more than 1,100 healthy men and
women aged seventy to seventy-nine, was reported by Yale epidemiologist
Lisa Berkman at a January 1995 meeting of the American Medical
Association. She confirmed that strong emotional support and social ties
can help lower blood pressure and enhance survival after a heart attack.
Berkman also found that significant social ties, including close
friendships and family relationships, improved the levels in the brain
of the chemicals norepinephrine and cortisol, which have been associated
with excessive stress.
Stronger Marriage Ties
Religious compatibility between spouses at the time of marriage has
a large influence on marital stability. A study, conducted by E. L.
Lehrer and C. U Chiswick of the Economics Department of the University
of Illinois at Chicago, also found that spouses of different faiths
generally break up more often than those with a common faith. (Source:
August 1993 issue of the journal Demography)
A commitment to a meaningful marriage-rather than just cohabiting with a
partner or remaining single-has also been linked in scientific studies
to some specific health benefits. Researchers from the University
of Chicago found that divorced men had twice the rate of alcohol abuse
as married men. Divorced women also had more problems with alcohol than
their married counterparts. Other researchers reported that those who
live together before marriage have higher divorce rates, are more likely
to be sexually disloyal, and are generally less happy than married
couples. (Source: Conferences of the Population Association of America,
April 1995)
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