Health Statistics
Church attendance lowers blood pressure
Regular churchgoers who also prayed daily or studied the Bible daily were 40 per cent less likely to have high blood pressure than those who did not, researchers at Duke University in North Carolina found. The team did a six-year study on 2,391 people who were aged at least 65 years. David Larson, of the US National Institute for Healthcare Research, said: “It shows church attendance is better for your health. If they relied on TV or radio it isn't as beneficial.” The study also revealed that elderly churchgoers had better mental health and were less likely to have high degrees of a protein associated with age-related illness.
(The Courier-Mail, August 13, 1998 p. 3)
Add years to your life: Go to church!
It's official! If you regularly attend church you are 29% more likely to live longer. An analysis of dozens of previous studies that suggested longer lifespans for churchgoers was done by Michael McCullough of the National Institute for Healthcare Research. The studies he analyzed covered nearly 126,000 people. Following his report published in Health Psychology, a journal of the American Psychological Association, McCullough said: “We think this analysis pretty much establishes that this correlation of religious involvement and mortality exists, but also points to the need for a lot more research to determine just how and why it has an effect.”
(The Washington Times, June 5, 2000)
Churchgoers live longer
Churchgoers live up to seven years longer than non-attenders, a University of Texas study has found. Researchers found that life expectancy rose when the number of church services attended increased. Those who attended every week had a life expectancy of 82 years. This dropped to 79 years for those who attended less than once a week, and for non-attenders it dropped to about 75 years.
(The Sunday Mail, September 26, 1999 p. 55)
Love thy neighbor: You'll live longer
Giving can help you live longer, according to research from the University of Michigan.
Psychologist Stephanie Brown of the university's Institute for Social Research studied 423 older couples for five years. She found that older people who lend a hand to friends, neighbors or relatives, even if it is only helping around the house, reduce their risk of dying by nearly 60 per cent compared to those who never offer help to anyone.
“Our results strongly suggest that giving makes a difference in terms of health,” Brown said. But what she found most astonishing was that one person in four said they had done nothing to help anyone else during the entire year. They hadn't offered to feed anyone's goldfish, water someone else's potplants while they were away, or help a friend or relative. Even a simple act like picking up their neighbor's newspaper would have allowed them to answer in the affirmative, Brown said.
Jesus said the second great commandment was, “love thy neighbour as thyself.” There seems to be no end to the benefits of following biblical advice.
(www.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DyeHard/dyehard.html 2002)
Religious teens get into less trouble
Teens who attend religious services at least once a week, or who said they have deeply help spiritual values, get into less legal and other trouble than other adolescents, a new study has found.
The findings come from the National Study of Youth and Religion by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. They support earlier research, even though most academics have ignored the religious connection. Study director, Dr. Christian Smith, said: "We found that kids who go to church regularly or who say that religion is important in their lives are much less likely to be involved in various forms of substance abuse, get into trouble, commit crimes, are less involved in violence."
They have fewer school problems and fewer difficulties with their parents. Dr. Smith also said they are "more likely to behave safely, try to stay healthy, and be involved in volunteering, sports, and community activities."
(www.youthandreligion.org, October 2002)
Tests show prayer cures illness
Scientists seem to have shown what Christians have always known — that praying to God to heal someone may get that person cured. Dr. Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist from the British Institute of Psychiatry, told 400 top scientists at the University of Salford in England about studies that showed that patients who were prayed for had much better recovery rates, even though they didn't know they were being prayed for.
One study looked at the effects of prayer on almost 400 cardiac patients. Patients were not told whether they were being prayed for. Half were prayed for by strangers who had only the patients' names. Those prayed for had fewer complications, fewer cases of pneumonia, needed less drug treatment, and left hospital earlier.
A study at Columbia University in New York asked people in Australia, Canada, and the United States to pray for IVF patients in Korea. Among the half who were prayed for, the success rate doubled. Dr. Fenwick said, “These are very good studies, properly done. Subjects who are unaware they are being prayed for can be significantly helped.”
(The Sunday Mail, September 21, 2003 p. 47)