THE HEALTH AND LONGEVITY BENEFITS OF RELIGION
This is the last of a trinity (!!) of pieces about nuns. Being a nice Jewish boy from the Bronx, I’m probably the last person in America to be writing about women who marry God. My exposure to non-Jewish people was limited to the few Irish and Italian kids in my elementary school classes. My relationship with nuns was absolute zero. However, I did meet a nun once, and I learned something very interesting…
NUNS LIVE LONGER
Driving across Kansas with my family, we stopped in Paola to visit the grave of Sister Mercedes, a nun with whom my wife had become friendly with when student teaching. She was feisty, friendly and happy. The convent was a complex of buildings, one of which was a school where the sisters taught for many years. Sister Mercedes died at ninety-three.
While Becky showed our three daughters around the place, I meandered out to the cemetery where generations of sisters were buried. Graveyards are irresistible. How long did they live? Was he killed in the war in 1944? How many years did the wife live after the husband’s death? The Sisters lived on these grounds and they died on these grounds. And there they rested, many going way back to the nineteenth century.
Sister Rosemary Mason – 1899 – 1990
Sister Rafael Dillon 1906 – 1990
Sister Mary Charles McGrath – 1895 – 1990
Sister Mary Augustin Lickteig – 1891 – 1989
Sister Josephine Gorman – 1895 – 1987
And so on.
We have long-known that married people live longer than singles, divorced or widowed, but being married to God seems to have even greater longevity perks. Does that mean that God looks with favor on his worshippers? I’ll leave that to the theologians, but there is mounting evidence of the beneficial effects of religion.
· A twenty-five- year study of California Mormons found that the life expectancy of Mormon men was almost ten years longer than that of the general population of white American males. Female Mormons lived between five and six years longer than their general population counterparts.
· Seventh Day Adventists live an average age of 88 for men and 89 for women.
· Twenty-two of twenty-seven studies found that frequency of religious attendance is “significantly associated” with good health. Regular church goers have fewer incidences of hypertension, positive pap smears, cervical cancer, neonatal mortality, emphysema, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide, colorectal cancer, cancer-related pain, and physical symptoms in general. They also have lower risk for myocardial degeneration, arteriosclerotic heart disease, and degenerative heart disease.”
· In 1992, Dr Brent Hafen and colleagues wrote, “People who regular worship at the church of their choice have less stress, better health, and longer lives. No one has pinpointed the reason exactly. There are a lot of possible reasons: social support and interaction, optimism, faith, prayer and the concept that church-goers tend to have a more positive approach to pain and illness. You don’t need to know why it works; just that it works.”
Here’s a possibility. If you believe, as Jesus said…
My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27
…then you have the gift of peace, certainty, order, security and the assurance that the Supreme Being of Creation cares about you personally, and has a place for you in eternity. With this attitude, your body and mind will shrug off the world’s miseries, and your immune system will remain strong.
In 1992 we didn’t know why religion is good for your health? Now we have evidence.
In 2011, a study by Howard S. Friedman and Leslie R. Martin, reported a “striking finding.” “Overall, it was not religious involvement that aided long-life…. it was not the meditative effect of prayer or the act of regular attendance at religious services that mattered.” While all of that was good, “Our findings suggest that someone who scores lots of points from feeling religious or from watching television evangelists will not likely have the same experiences, or positive outcomes, as someone who is actively engaged in a religious community.
Digging one step deeper they found that the social connection provided by religious communities is the source of the Longevity Advantage. Nuns have it all: faith, family, meaning, purpose, lack of stress, an orderly life and the promise of eternity with God.
In 2010, a study of centenarians by Lynn Peters Adler and Steve Franklin,
reported: “It came as no surprise to us that almost all centenarians we spoke to said that their faith has sustained them. Most believe they will be here as long as God has a purpose for them.”
Dr. Hafen and colleagues concluded:
Spirituality buffers stress; people with a deep sense of spirituality
are not defeated by a crisis. They are able to relax their minds,
elicit the relaxation response, and heal more quickly and completely.
If you believe and are part of a religious community, your get a health and longevity perk. But what if you don’t believe? What if you don’t have a spiritual bone in your body? Answer: since social connection is the hidden factor in longevity – then get connected. Join a book club, work for a political party, play on a team, sing in a choir, invite friends over for dinner, take a class, join a like-minded community on Substack.
Your body is listening.
Author’s Note – In four days we we’ll take a new look at the month of April. It’s not all flowers and Easter bunnies.