Obituaries reveal the secret of a long life: religion

Religious people live roughly four years longer than people who are not members of a religious community. American psychologists from Ohio State University come to this conclusion in a study that will shortly appear in Social Psychological and Personality Science. The researchers analyzed several thousand obituaries that appeared in American newspapers between 2010 and 2012.

Study 1



Gender and marriage also affect how long you can live. When the psychologists brushed away the effect of these two factors, then religious persons still lived 6.48 years longer than non-religious individuals.





Study 2

In a larger study, the researchers analyzed 1,096 obituary reports from 42 different cities. This analysis showed that religious people had lived 5.6 longer than non-religious individuals.

After the researchers brushed away the effects of sex and marriage, religious people would still live 3.8 years longer than people who had not been part of a religious community.





Other factors















Because religious people volunteered more often, and were socially more active, these two factors partly explained the life-prolonging effect of religion.





Conclusion

"The study provides persuasive evidence that there is a relationship between religious participation and how long a person lives", says co-author Baldwin Way in a press release. [sciencedaily.com June 13, 2018]





"Religious affiliation had nearly as strong an effect on longevity as gender does, which is a matter of years of life", adds first author Laura Wallace.

"We found that volunteerism and involvement in social organizations only accounted for a little less than one year of the longevity boost that religious affiliation provided. There's still a lot of the benefit of religious affiliation that this can't explain."

The researchers can only speculate about what those other benefits would be. "Many religions promote stress-reducing practices that may improve health, such as gratitude, prayer or meditation", says Way.

Source:

Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2018 DOI: 10.1177/1948550618779820.

More:

Book readers live a few years longer 21.11.2016

Concentrating on positive feelings during adversity extends life expectancy 21.06.2016

Optimists live longer 24.12.2011



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