Go to church, live longer.
That could very well be the mantra of today's Christians after a new study showed that regular church attendance not only boosts people's spiritual lives but also improves their physical health, helping them live longer lives.
Professor Tyler J. VanderWeele and colleagues at Harvard University conducted a 20-year study that suggests that attending religious services brings better physical and mental health, CBN News reported.
The study found out that adults who go to church at least once a week have a significantly lower risk of dying in the 10 and a half years after they begin regular attendance.
The research does not support one faith over another. However, it suggests that followers of Christianity and Judaism have lower suicide rates compared to members of other religions.
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The study attributes this to the hopeful message imparted to congregants during Christian services.
The researchers found out that those who have strong faith have 57 percent lower chances of suffering from depression.
The study also suggests that attending church at least once a week resulted in better blood pressure; cardiovascular, immune and endocrine functions; less coronary artery disease; greater marital stability; greater purpose in life, and overall higher levels of happiness.
Praying, just like going to church, is considered as the most popular alternative therapy in the U.S., having shown numerous evidence that it can rally heal people, according to The Gospel Herald.
Numerous studies and researches have been made in the past four decades showing the relationship between prayer and health.
The National Institutes of Health said it found that individuals who pray every day are 40 percent more likely to have less high blood pressure than those without a regular prayer practice.
Other studies showed that prayer increases the body's immune system and decreases the severity and frequency of many illnesses. For instance in 2011, a study from the University of Cincinnati showed that individuals with asthma who pray and meditate regularly have fewer and less severe symptoms than those who had not.
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