A new study proposes that attending a religious service once a week helps lower a person’s risk of dying by approximately 20 percent.
Wired PR News.com – As reported by Health Day News, the study examined 95,000 women ages 50 to 79 from the United States and found that such attendance for any religion had potential health benefits for individuals. However, for those who have cardiovascular disease or heart conditions, the outcome remained the same, regardless of whether they regularly attended service.
As quoted of Eliezer Schnall, Yeshiva College professor and lead author of the study, “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.”
Details of the study can be found in the current issue of the Psychology and Health journal.