Worship attendance 2 times/week +7 years
Worship attendance 2 times/week +7 years
Research shows that frequent visits to religious services lead to 7 7-year longer life. During my travels in 65 countries, I have visited many holy places. When I visited cities like Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Madrid, Sidney, New York, and Los Angeles, the church room became a quiet oasis of silence and peace where you could relax and unwind.
I was baptized in Gråmanstorp’s church in 1160, and old churches link previous generations with ours and let us rest in a safe church room. When church rooms are filled with praise and lighted candles, it is as if they are lifting.
Positive effects: Studies show strong correlations between attending church and living a long time. 115,000 women were followed for 16 years. Those who attended religious services more than once a week had a 33% lower risk of death than their secular peers.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedic...
One study followed 5,449 men and women for 18 years. Those who attended church more than once a week had a 55% lower risk of all-cause mortality than non-churchgoers. The study also found that increased religiosity in the form of church attendance is associated with less stress and improved longevity.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.13...
An older study surveyed 38,839 adults in Washington County, Maryland. Attendance at religious services at least once a week was associated with a 39% lower mortality compared to no attendance.
Comstock och Tonascia (1977; jfr. Comstock och Patridge, 1972)
A study by sociologist Robert Hummer is singled out as a milestone in rigorous research on church attendance and all-cause mortality. The study examined 21,204 adults, was nationally representative, and controlled for age, gender, socio-economic status, and health.
The study showed that more visits to religious services lead to longer lives. Those who never attended religious services had 1.87 times the risk of dying compared to those who attended religious services more than once a week.
The researchers found that at age twenty, it leads to an expected difference of seven years of extra life expectancy for those who attend church more than once a week - compared to those who never attend church.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.2307/2648114
Researcher Marino Bruce at Vanderbilt University: “Having the feeling that you are not alone in the world, that you are part of a power greater than yourself, can give you the confidence to tackle life’s issues. Biologically, if it reduces stress, it means you’re less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and the like may increase mortality.”
Researchers believe that holiness and compassion contribute to the health benefits of religiosity. Holiness gives meaning to life and inspires commitment to something more significant than the self. Holiness instills love, joy, peace, hope, and belonging and creates a personal relationship with a higher power. Compassion is associated with generosity, altruism, and reduced stress, making life easier.
Studies have found that prayer increases mental well-being and benefits the person praying, whether for someone else or themselves. Psychiatrist Harold Koenig of Duke University: “Compassion that people show to others when they pray for them is good for the person praying.”
Prayer brings relaxation to the body, which has been shown to lower anxiety and heart rate. The psychological benefits gradually lead to physical benefits and improvements in immune function, blood pressure, and cortisol.
One study found that regular weekly prayer sessions with patients significantly improved both their depression and anxiety symptoms as well as increased their optimism. Furthermore, the improvements remained for at least one month after the last prayer session.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20391859/
Other studies have found that prayer reduced symptoms of post-cesarean pain and improved quality of life in women undergoing radiation therapy for cancer.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25530054/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22533516/
Suicide is a global epidemic, and according to the WHO, over 703,000 people (1/3 of women and 2/3 of men) take their own lives each year, representing 1.3% of all global deaths.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27367927/
In a study of about 100,000 people, weekly church attendance predicted a 68% lower risk of “death by despair” (drugs, suicide, alcohol) in women and 33% in men.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fu...
An analysis of 89 research studies on religious affiliation and suicide unequivocally concluded that religious affiliation powerfully protects against suicide attempts and suicide. Similarly, attending religious services is a protection against suicide attempts. Religion appears to inhibit individuals from acting on suicidal thoughts by providing access to a supportive community, a source of hope, reinterpreting suffering, and reframing thoughts.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC73105...
Religion is linked to health in general; religious people have more social support and a more positive self-image. In one study, churchgoers were more likely to seek preventive care. 75% of 1,517 church members received regular mammograms (60% of non-churchgoers).
1998 publicerad i tidskriften Health Education & Behavior fann forskare vid University of California, Los Angeles
In a study from Norway, churchgoers have lower blood pressure. Those who attended church at least three times a month had one to two points lower blood pressure than non-attendees, similar to results in the United States. The researchers believe you learn to manage stress and anxiety and relax by singing, praying, and going to church with others.
Studie från Norge 2011: https://www.kyrkanstidning.se/nyhet/vana-gudstjans...
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