Studies: Religious People Tend to Be Healthier

(CBS)  Since September 11, there have been more and mpore reports that people are turning to religion. In addition to finding comfort, they may also find some health benefits. Dr. Harold Koenig is an associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center. He talked about the religion and health connection that many studies have found.

"There are 1,200 studies that have looked at the relationship between religion and health over the past century," says Dr. Koening. Most of the hard research study data has looked at people in Christian and Judaic populations. There are also a number of studies among Muslims, but very few among Hindus and Buddhists.

About two-thirds of those studies show that the religious person tends to be healthier, says Dr. Koening.

"That doesn't mean that all of those studies are perfect studies or that they prove definitively that all people who are religious are healthier or that all people who are not religious are going to be sick," he notes. "It just says that in general, what we see are these general trends--that religious people tend to be healthier. Because there are so many of these studies by different research groups in different populations, finding so consistently these positive associations, that is impressive. Many studies are not well done, but they all provide some evidence that you can't just disregard."

Stress

Religion has been found to be helpful in reducing stress, which is another health benefit. Dr. Koenig says that what happens physiologically when people experience stress is that their bodies react in a very distinctive manner. "The body begins to produce hormones, stress hormones that influence immune system functioning, blood pressure, cardiac activity, even speed of wound healing. Anything that can reduce stress could counteract those physiological changes that lead to illness and that impair recovery."

Weight

Religion can also help people lose weight, although he says, most people who are religious tend to be overweight. "It's the only health characteristic that tends to be worse among the religious," he said. That's because, for people who go to church, eating is a big part of the whole culture. "However, religion can be used as a powerful motivating factor and as a behavior to help people lose weight. There are activities they can do like prayer walking. You can get friends together and you pray together while you walk or you sing. It's great for fellowship." He says that when people who are religious are stressed out and they want to respond to that stress, instead of eating, religion provides them with an alternative way of coping.

Longevity

There aren't any studies that have determined if people who practice a religion live longer than atheists do.

"But we do know that older people who do not pray or read religious scripture, that they have an increased risk of mortality fro the studies we have done here at Duke," says Dr. Koenig. "The mortality rate was significantly higher. Even after controlling for social support and health behaviors, investigators found that lack of private religious activity continued to predict a 47% greater risk of dying. We are talking about an age group over the age of 65 and it was shown in a group of people who were relatively healthy." He says that this study looked at more than 1,000 healthy elders.

Importance of the Studies

Dr. Koenig says that this information about the link between religion and health can be helpful to doctors and other health professionals in treating patients in terms of supporting the religious belief of the vast majority of patients.

"It's more about inquiring about, respecting, and supporting. They should not refute a belief. But, if you are seriously ill, they should inquire about whether you have any religious or spiritual needs that might influence your medical car. They might say, yes I've been wondering if God has been punishing me and I feel like he has deserted me, or they feel alone. We know that people who have those feelings die sooner. So, we ought to at least connect those people with someone who can help them out with that," Dr. Koenig says.

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