A new study finds people who attend religious services weekly live longer. Specifically,
the research looked at how many years are added to life expectancy based on:
- Regular physical exercise: 3.0-to-5.1 years
- Proven therapeutic regimens: 2.1-to-3.7 years
- Regular religious attendance: 1.8-to-3.1 years
The study, which is actually a review of existing research from the three
categories, does not reveal what the link between faith and health might be.
"Religious attendance is not a mode of medical therapy," said study leader
Daniel Hall, a resident in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center. "While this study was not intended for use in clinical decision making,
these findings tell us that there is something to examine further." Hall is also an Episcopal priest.
"The significance of this finding may prove to be controversial," he said. "But
at the very least, it shows that further research into the associations between
religion and health might have implications for medical practice."
In a telephone interview, Hall speculated that the social aspect of religion
could play a role in the results: "There is something about being knit into
the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating
a positive health effect," he told LiveScience. Perhaps, he said, being involved
in a religion "can then decrease your level of stress in life or increase your
ability to cope with stress."
Another possibility: "Being in a religious community helps you make meaning
out of your life," Hall suggested. The findings are detailed in the March-April
issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
Hall also looked at the cost of these three approaches, examining typical
gym membership fees, therapy costs from health insurance companies and census
data on average household contributions to religious institutions. The estimated
cost of each year of additional life apparently gained by each method:
- Regular physical exercise: $4,000
- Proven therapeutic regimens: $10,000
- Regular religious attendance: $7,000
Hall cautions that few conclusions can be drawn from his study, and that further
research is needed. "There is no evidence that changing religious attendance
causes a change in health outcomes," he said.
But he said doctors and researchers might want to think of religiousness as
a demographic factor.
"For example," he writes in the journal, "the incidence of gastric cancer
is higher among Japanese men, and knowledge of this fact might guide a physician
to initiate early and frequent screening for gastric cancer among male Japanese
patients."
