By Marilyn Ellias, USA TODAY
 People
who attend religious services at least once a month live significantly
longer than those who don't, one of the most thorough studies
of religion and mortality suggests.
One reason may be that church and temple-goers
take better care of their bodies, a nationally representative
survey of 3,617 Americans shows.
The study, reported last weekend to the American
Sociological Association in Chicago, adds to evidence that religious
adults have better health.
After controlling for health differences among
people, those not attending services regularly over seven years
were about one-third more likely to die in that time, say sociologists
Marc Musick and James House of the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor.
Churchgoers were more likely to be nonsmokers,
physically active and at the right weight. But even after health
behaviors were taken into account, those not attending services
regularly still were about 25% more likely to have died.
Attending services "extends the life span
about as much as moderate exercise or not smoking," House
says.
This confirms findings of other recent studies,
says David Larson of the National Institute for Healthcare Research,
a Rockville, MD center that studies spirituality and health. Rituals
and being part of a community might promote health-enhancing serenity,
House says. Hope and optimism, qualities found in some studies
to promote life, also might be fostered by worship.
"It's a mistake to conclude that going
to services alone is a major causal factor," says psychologist
Howard Friedman of the University of California in Riverside.
Religious people "often live healthier in lots of ways."
He has looked at the life spans of very bright women and found
a similar tie between religion and longer lives.
But religion isn't always a boon to health,
Friedman says. "In fact, some are in religions that mess
people up-they lay guilt trips on them, and then they rebel and
do all kinds of self-destructive things."
Return To Faith & Health
Connection Main Menu | Go
To Next Article
|
