Is Going To Church Good For Your Health?

Researchers claim that attending religious ceremonies makes people live longer as it decreases depression and gives a more optimistic look on life.

22:38 18 May 2016

A recent study claims that going to church is good for the health because it provides a sense of community that decreases the effects of stress and depression.

 

The study, which only looked at Protestants and Catholic communities made up of mainly white female nurses, suggests that women who attend religious services more than once a week have a 21per cent lower risk of dying from cancer than women who never attended church.

 

Dr Tyler VanderWeele, a professor of epidemiology of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, examined attendance at religious services and subsequent death in women.

 

He said: "Our results suggest that there may be something important about religious service attendance beyond solitary spirituality.

 

"Part of the benefit seems to be that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on life."

 

The authors noted limits in generalising the results because the study mainly consisted of white Christians and the participants were nurses with similar socioeconomic status and who were health conscious.