Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

October 2017 – Regular church attendance is good for your body and your marriage, not to mention your soul.

Vanderbilt University professor Marino Bruce found in a May 2017 study that going to church results in longer lives. People ages 40 to 65 who attend Christian worship services or other places of worship more than once a week reduce their risk of mortality by 55% when compared to those in the same age bracket who do not attend worship services.

In other words, “For those who did not attend church at all – they were twice as likely to die prematurely than those who attended church at some point over the last year,” Bruce clarified in a video produced by Vanderbilt.

The study showed those who do not attend worship services experience a significantly higher measure of overall stress – what researchers call “allostatic load.” Accordingly, they are more likely to have high-risk levels of blood pressure, heart rate, and body mass index.

Researchers studied data from the National Health and Nutrition Examinations Survey from 1988 to 1994, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another study, this one from Harvard’s school of public health, affirms the positive correlation between church attendance and longer life. In addition, it revealed that those who attended services are 50% less likely to divorce and 27% less likely to become depressed.

The Harvard findings came from a national study of 75,000 women from 1996 to 2012.

factsandtrends.net, 8/2/17; 8/9/17