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Does Praying Lead To A Healthier Life?
- Richard J Yun
- Feb 11, 2020
- 2 min read
Often, praying is overlooked and not considered when talking about health. However
If you want to achieve maximum health, here are a few things that you should do: exercise regularly, eat nutritious and minimally processed foods, drop those extra pounds — and pray. That’s right, regular prayer and meditation have been shown in numerous scientific studies to be an important factor in living longer and staying healthy.
Prayer is the most widespread alternative therapy in America today. Over 85 percent of people confronting a major illness pray, according to a University of Rochester study. That is far higher than taking herbs or pursuing other nontraditional healing modalities. And increasingly the evidence is that prayer works.
There are several ways in which a regular spiritual practice may improve or protect your emotional health. It can:
Offer a bigger sense of purpose. A connection to a greater power or truth can give you a sense of purpose and meaning beyond the day-to-day, Park says.
Provide social support. Through practicing your spirituality, you may become involved with a community of like-minded people. An August 2015 review of 78 studies by Park and other researchers published in Cancer found that patients who reported a strong religious or spiritual life also maintained richer social connections.
Lift the spirit. Activities related to your spiritual practice or community involvement, such as singing and music, may also have positive effects on emotional health. Participating in a choir offers a support system and may reduce anxiety and depression among cancer survivors and their caregivers, according to study published in 2012 in the journal Ecancermedicalscience.
Help you cope with difficulties. Spirituality or religion can provide a framework for dealing with unexpected or negative events. For example, regular church attendance and prayer appear to lessen the symptoms of depression when dealing with the death of a loved one, according to research published in 2012 in Depression Research and Treatment.
Spiritual practice aims to connect the individual with God or a Higher Power, to open one to the Divinity dwelling within the self, and to make one fully present to life in the here and now. These are not goals that lend themselves to being measured in double-blind experiments. The sense of deep peace and radiant well being that spiritual practitioner in different religious traditions report are also not testable by scientific means.
Praying may not solve every challenge, however, it is a great tool to keep calm and think about the challenges you are facing in life. It is not only a relaxation tool but a tool to help rejuvenate your mind.
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