A 30-year study conducted by the Human Population Laboratory in Berkeley, California, found that those who attend weekly religious services may be more likely than less-frequent attenders to improve their health behaviors and to maintain already established good health habits. Specifically, they were more likely to "become more physically active, quit smoking, become less depressed, increase social relationships and initiate and maintain stable marriages, said the study's lead author, William J. Strawbridge, Ph.D.

This raises the chicken-and-egg question as to whether religious organizations attract people who already have good health behaviors or if attendance helps create these behaviors.

Attenders did not all start off with such good behaviors, said Strawbridge. To some extent, their good health behaviors occurred in conjunction with their attendance.

A separate study suggests that regular church-goers might have to wait longer to meet their maker. Mortality research is finding that religious/spiritual commitment is a prophetic predictor of longevity.

The Population Research Center at University of Texas found that attending religious services one or more times a week was associated with an additional seven years of life. And, although we are all going to die from something, people who did not attend religious services were about four times as likely to die from respiratory disease, diabetes, or infectious diseases, the researchers found.

Perhaps those in better health are simply more likely to attend religious services than those who are sick or disabled? Not according to the National Institute for Healthcare Research, which found that people "with significant impairment in mobility were, in fact, more likely to be frequent attendees."

Another study, looking at a random population of approximately 4,000 people, showed a connection between blood pressure and attendance at church. People who consistently attended church a minimum of once a week had lower blood pressure than those who attended less frequently. This correlation did not
extend to other forms of religious activity, like religious television and  radio programs.

Many questions remain about the faith / fitness connection, the primary one being, what causes it? Is it a positive form of peer pressure, a sense of perceived control of one's life or, perhaps, the social, physical and economic support offered by the religious community? The root causes are worth uncovering, according to Strawbridge, so that they can be applied in other settings. 

"Discovering exactly how attendance impacts adoption of good health behaviors," says Strawbridge, "can help in the design of strategies to promote the adoption of good health behaviors before illness strikes, and to provide effective self-care treatment when it does."
 

Links of Reference

Scientists question religion-health link.
http://unisci.com/stories/19991/0219994.htm

Church attendance boosts immune system.
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/Med/BIBLE.HTM

What does a government-funded study reveal about prayer and health?
http://www.medserv.dk/health/2000/11/16/story04.htm

References

The Relationship Between a Patient's Spirituality and Health Experiences J. LeBron McBride, PhD, MPH; Gary Arthur, EdD; Robin Brooks, MA; Lloyd Pilkington, MEd 
Clinical Research and Methods (Fam Med 1998;30(2):122-6.)

Longevity and Mortality
by David B. Larson, M.D., M.S.P.H., Susan S. Larson, M.A.T., and Harold G.
Koenig, M.D., M.H.Sc.
Psychiatric Times  August 2000  Vol. XVII  Issue 8

Hummer RA, Rogers RG, Nam CB, Ellison CG (1999), Religious involvement and
U.S. adult mortality. Demography 36(2):273-285.

Koenig HG, Hays JC, Larson DB, et al.
Does religious attendance prolong survival?, Journals of Gerontology
(Medical) 1999;54:M370-M376
 
 

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