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WEDNESDAY, Nov. 26 -- Attending a weekly religious service, regardless of your faith, may lower your risk of death by 20 percent compared to people who don't attend services, researchers are reporting.
''Religion is always a hot topic, but particularly now, when people are perhaps in fear because of the recession and the threat of terrorism, people are looking for stability, and religion is something we find people reach out to for that stability. And, we see some health benefits here,'' said the study's lead author, Eliezer Schnall, a clinical assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva College at Yeshiva University in New York City.
''Maybe it's the sense of community, or the support, or maybe people are less depressed when they join in religious services,'' he said, adding that the researchers tried to control the data to account for many of these factors, but ''we have not completely explained it all.''
Results of the study were published in the current issue of the journal Psychology and Health.
The study participants came from the large Women's Health Initiative observational study, and included nearly 95,000 women from all over the United States. The women were all between 50 and 79 years old at the start of the study.
When the study began, each woman filled out extensive questionnaires regarding health history, health behaviors, psychosocial factors, demographics and religion. Medical information was obtained yearly for each study volunteer, and the average follow-up time was 7.7 years.
Before adjusting the data, there was no significant difference in the risk of death between regular religious service attendees and those who chose not to attend. Schnall noted that there were many reasons why this could be so. But the main reason, he said, could be that people who go to religious services every week may be in better physical shape. ''Maybe they're just healthy enough to go to services,'' he said.
When the researchers adjusted the data to account for physical health, age, ethnicity, income, education, social support, important life events and life satisfaction, they found that weekly religious service attendance was responsible for a 20 reduction in the risk of death. Attending less than once a week was responsible for a 15 percent drop in the risk of death.
But, attending religious services didn't improve the risk of death from cardiovascular disease or improve heart outcomes, the study found.
Although the study noted a decreased risk of death, Schnall wouldn't say that the prescription for good health is to attend religious services regularly.
''I'm not saying our study yields such a prescription, but our findings are intriguing and we do at least have some ideas of why there is a benefit, but we have not completely explained it all,'' he said.
Dr. Harold G. Koenig, founder and co-director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, called the new research ''a very well-done study that provides good, well-controlled evidence that religious attendance is related to lower mortality.''
''And, they [the researchers] show it's not just the social factor, it's not just the behavioral factors, and it's not just that some people might be too sick to be able to go to church. The researchers controlled well for these, though they still don't explain it all at the end,'' said Koenig.
''But,'' he added, ''that doesn't mean there are supernatural effects, just that we don't fully understand the mechanism by which religion does this yet.''________________________________
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20081126/hl_hsn/religionmayhelpextendyourlife
Looks like I better get to Church. Any comments? Why you should be religious...
But why would religious people want that if they're in such a hurry to get back to heaven? :?Why you should be religious...
I am find with a shorter life.
Am I the only one who thinks religions in general usually have good moral values that people should abide by?
I don't want to extend my life. Thank you anyway.
Darwin > Jesus imho
Correlation does not imply causation.
[QUOTE=''Setsa'']Am I the only one who thinks religions in general usually have good moral values that people should abide by?[/QUOTE]
No you are not. I think that as well. And so do many many people.
[QUOTE=''swazidoughman'']Darwin > Jesus imho[/QUOTE]
Jesus has magical powers , and that automatically make him better.
The problem with this is that would have to assume religious services are the only way to extend your life. Which this is not true. the religious service is just a value of a variable, that can have several other values and get the same result. This variable is reduction of stress, and life security. You can reduce stress a number of ways. This includes meditation, fun activities with the family, working out, and many other community, family oriented customs.So, I can't really say this argument is entirely true. It's one way to increase your possible life expectancy, but not the only way.
I practice Kung Fu and Tai Chi and meditate and base alot of my morals and beliefs on Bhuddism and Im far more happy and at peace with myself than I ever was when I was a devote Christian.
[QUOTE=''dave123321''][QUOTE=''swazidoughman'']Darwin > Jesus imho[/QUOTE] Jesus has magical powers , and that automatically make him better.[/QUOTE]What about super saiyan Darwin? O_O
[QUOTE=''Shad0ki11''] [QUOTE=''dave123321''][QUOTE=''swazidoughman'']Darwin > Jesus imho[/QUOTE] Jesus has magical powers , and that automatically make him better.[/QUOTE]What about super saiyan Darwin? O_O[/QUOTE]He is Super Saiyan 3 dude! HELL YEAH!
[QUOTE=''Setsa'']Am I the only one who thinks religions in general usually have good moral values that people should abide by?[/QUOTE]Depends entirely on the religion.
[QUOTE=''Fire_Spirit'']But why would religious people want that if they're in such a hurry to get back to heaven? :?[/QUOTE]Not all religions have a heaven.
'Finding God' is fine for those that need it. But for the rest of us, finding solace in an actual person is just as healthy.
[QUOTE=''Samazuki''] [QUOTE=''Setsa'']Am I the only one who thinks religions in general usually have good moral values that people should abide by?[/QUOTE]Depends entirely on the religion.[/QUOTE]To an extent.. I think alot of people use religion as a scape goat as something to have when they are lonely I think its all a mental perception of things religions are structured to give people hope that something out there is taking care of them and unfortunatly its probably not real but I think the cons of organized religion far out weigh the good, because people are generally morally good people.
[QUOTE=''Shad0ki11''] [QUOTE=''dave123321''][QUOTE=''swazidoughman'']Darwin > Jesus imho[/QUOTE] Jesus has magical powers , and that automatically make him better.[/QUOTE]What about super saiyan Darwin? O_O[/QUOTE]Doesn't matter. Jesus would come back every three days no matter how hard you try to kill him.
the funny thing is when you take all the stories in the bible and put them into a different context do you think they sound even more far fetched then they already seem? I would really like to know why the second coming of christ and the whole end of days is taking so dang long. I mean what are we waiting for? You would think that around 100 A.D. we could have just called it a day, cast away the sinners and get the party started! But here we are 2008 A.D. and feeling like a girl stood up on prom night. Are there reliable statistics for this theory? Ah, what does it matter? Just slap a short article on Yahoo headlines and people will buy it.
[QUOTE=''Lostboy1224'']the funny thing is when you take all the stories in the bible and put them into a different context do you think they sound even more far fetched then they already seem? I would really like to know why the second coming of christ and the whole end of days is taking so dang long. I mean what are we waiting for? You would think that around 100 A.D. we could have just called it a day, cast away the sinners and get the party started! But here we are 2008 A.D. and feeling like a girl stood up on prom night. Are there reliable statistics for this theory? Ah, what does it matter? Just slap a short article on Yahoo headlines and people will buy it.[/QUOTE]wut?
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