Many people say they attend church because it helps them stay grounded and gives them spiritual guidance. A new study suggests that regular attendance may also help increase their lifespan.
The culture of abiding in religious and attending religious meeting is so much ingrained in the African culture. We have different forms of religious beliefs that we are obliged to follow their rules.
Researchers looked at data on nearly 75,000 middle-age female nurses in the United States as part of the Nurses’ Health Study. The participants answered questions about whether they attended religious services regularly every four years between 1992 and 2012, and about other aspects of their lives over the years.
The researchers found that women who went to church more than once a week had a 33% lower risk of dying during the study period compared with those who said they never went. Less-frequent attendance was also associated with a lower risk of death, as women who attended once a week or less than weekly had 26% and 13% lower risk of death, respectively.
The same findings can relate with the African culture where church or religious gatherings tend to shape the behavior of the people , especially the young who are always advised to live as stipulated in the holy scriptures.
Women who regularly attended religious services also had higher rates of social support and optimism, had lower rates of depression and were less likely to smoke.
However, the researchers took into account these differences between churchgoers and non-churchgoers when they calculated the decrease in death rates of 13% to 33%.
Going to church could have a number of additional benefits that could, in turn, improve longevity, but the researchers were not able to examine them with the available data.
Attendance could promote self-discipline and a sense of meaning and purpose in life, or it could provide an experience of the transcendent.
The values of the cultures especially the moral of better living are borrowed from the holy scriptures. They dictate the lives of the people.
Most of the women in the study were Protestant or Catholic, so it is not clear whether a similar association would be found between religious service attendance and longevity for people of other Christian religions, Judaism or Islam.
“There have been literally thousands of studies” looking at whether religion is good for your health, said Dr. Dan German Blazer II, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center. The findings have been mixed about whether aspects of religious devotion such as prayer and spirituality — such as reading the Bible or other religious literature — improve longevity.
“The one (aspect) that is significantly more predictive of good health is about religious service attendance,” said Blazer, who wrote an editorial about the new study in the same issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.
The studies tie longevity of life to living and going to the church. Church is believed to offer solace to the soul and grant people the peace of heart. This help many people avoid or overcome most problems and diseases that are associated with living life out of the church. The life which it is considered straight and that holy scriptures assure someone the hope of life and better living.
Most people report that they are spiritual, and it is possible that actually attending religious services is good for their health because they are taking actions that are in line with their beliefs, Blazer said. “You have a more integrated life in this sense.”