Abstract
Currently, one can find numerous longitudinal studies that examined the relationship between religiousness-spirituality (R-S) and health, with very good control for potential confounders. In most of these studies, the association is demonstrated, suggesting evidence of a protective effect of R-S factors on physical and mental health, quality of life, and longevity. The statistical correlation between R-S and health was found for several health-related outcomes, especially in cardiovascular diseases. Although causality can not be definitively established, the evidence that at least part of the association is causal seems quite strong. The R-S factor that seems most strongly associated with health is the frequency of attendance at religious services. The R-S dimension is associated with greater longevity in people in the most varied conditions. However, in some population subgroups, the benefit of this association seems to be greater. The mechanisms of action of R-S on health are not fully described, but they should include a combination of neuro-psycho-immune endocrinology pathways, encouragement of healthier behaviors, and social-congregational factors. In the other direction, under certain conditions, adverse health effects from R-S interpretations have been documented, with effects exactly opposed to those cited. Future studies should be designed in order to fill current gaps and to guide how this knowledge could shape medical practice.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ammerman, N. T. (2013). Spiritual but not religious? Beyond binary choices in the study of religion. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 52(2), 258–278.
Bersani, F. S., Lindqvist, D., Mellon, S. H., et al. (2016). Association of dimensional psychological health measures with telomere length in male war veterans. Journal of Affective Disorders, 190, 537–542.
Chattopadhyay, S. (2007). Religion, spirituality, health and medicine: Why should Indian physicians care? Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, 53(4), 262.
Chida, Y., Steptoe, A., & Powell, L. H. (2009). Religiosity/spirituality and mortality. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 78(2), 81–90.
Cohen, S., Janicki-Deverts, D., & Miller, G. E. (2007). Psychological stress and disease. JAMA, 298(14), 1685–1687.
DeHaven, M. J., Hunter, I. B., Wilder, L., et al. (2004). Health programs in faith-based organizations: Are they effective? American Journal of Public Health, 94(6), 1030–1036.
Exline, J. J., Pargament, K. I., Grubbs, J. B., et al. (2014). The religious and spiritual struggles scale: Development and initial validation. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(3), 208.
Fenelon, A., & Danielsen, S. (2016). Leaving my religion: Understanding the relationship between religious disaffiliation, health, and well-being. Social Science Research, 57, 49–62.
Hall, D. E. (2006). Religious attendance: More cost-effective than Lipitor? The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 19(2), 103–109.
Heuch, I., Jacobsen, B. K., & Fraser, G. E. (2005). A cohort study found that earlier and longer Seventh-day Adventist church membership was associated with reduced male mortality. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 58(1), 83–91.
Hill, T. D., Rote, S. M., Ellison, C. G., et al. (2014). Religious attendance and biological functioning: A multiple specification approach. Journal of Aging and Health, 26(5), 766–785.
Hill, T. D., Ellison, C. G., Burdette, A. M., et al. (2016). Dimensions of religious involvement and leukocyte telomere length. Social Science & Medicine, 163, 168–175.
Hummer, R. A., Rogers, R. G., Nam, C. B., et al. (1999). Religious involvement and U.S. adult mortality. Demography, 36(2), 273–285.
Jaffe, D. H., Eisenbach, Z., Neumark, Y. D., et al. (2005). Does living in a religiously affiliated neighborhood lower mortality? Annals of Epidemiology, 15(10), 804–810.
Koenig, H. G. (2012). Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry, 2012. https://doi.org/10.5402/2012/278730, Article ID 278730, 33 pages.
Koenig, H. G. (2015). Religion, spirituality, and health: A review and update. Advances in Mind-Body Medicine, 29(3), 19–26.
Krause, N. (2006). Church-based social support and mortality. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 61(3), S140–S1S6.
LaCour, P., Avlund, K., & Schultz-Larsen, K. (2006). Religion and survival in a secular region: A twenty year follow-up of 734 Danish adults born in 1914. Social Science & Medicine, 62(1), 157–164.
Larson, D. B., Larson, S. S., & Koenig, H. G. (2002). Mortality and religion/spirituality: A brief review of the research. Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 36(6), 1090–1098.
Li, S., Stampfer, M. J., Williams, D. R., et al. (2016). Association of religious service attendance with mortality among women. JAMA Internal Medicine, 176(6), 777–785.
Lucchese, F. A., & Koenig, H. G. (2013). Religion, spirituality and cardiovascular disease: Research, clinical implications, and opportunities in Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery, 28(1), 103–128.
Lucchetti, G., Lucchetti, A. L., & Koenig, H. G. (2011). Impact of spirituality/religiosity on mortality: Comparison with other health interventions. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 7(4), 234–238.
Moreira-Almeida, A. (2013). Religion and health: The more we know the more we need to know. World Psychiatry, 12(1), 37–38.
Musick, M. A., House, J. S., & Williams, D. R. (2004). Attendance at religious services and mortality in a national sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45(2), 198–213.
Oman, D., Kurata, J. H., Strawbridge, W. J., et al. (2002). Religious attendance and cause of death over 31 years. The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 32(1), 69–89.
Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., Tarakeshwar, N., et al. (2001). Religious struggle as a predictor of mortality among medically ill elderly patients: A 2-year longitudinal study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 161(15), 1881–1885.
Park, C. L., Aldwin, C. M., Choun, S., et al. (2016). Spiritual peace predicts 5-year mortality in congestive heart failure patients. Health Psychology, 35(3), 203.
Petri, R. P., Jr., Walter, J. A., & Wright, J. (2015). Integrative health and healing practices specifically for service members: Self-care techniques. Medical Acupuncture, 27(5), 335–343.
Powell, L. H., Shahabi, L., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Religion and spirituality: Linkages to physical health. American Psychologist, 58(1), 36.
Saad, M., & de Medeiros, R. (2017). The continuum of mind-body interplay—From placebo effect to unexplained cures. Medical Science & Healthcare. Practice, 1(1), 1.
Saad, M., & de Medeiros, R. (2012). Spiritual-religious coping–health services empowering patients’ resources. In M. Saad (Ed.), Complementary therapies for the contemporary healthcare (pp. 127–144). Rijeka: InTech Publisher.
Singh, R. B., Bjørklund, G., Shastun, S., et al. (2016). Mental and spiritual health and the heart: A viewpoint. World Heart Journal, 8(3), 233.
Stavrova, O. (2015). Religion, self-rated health, and mortality: Whether religiosity delays death depends on the cultural context. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(8), 911–922.
Strawbridge, W. J., Shema, S. J., Cohen, R. D., et al. (2001). Religious attendance increases survival by improving and maintaining good health behaviors, mental health, and social relationships. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 23(1), 68–74.
Tobin, E. T., & Slatcher, R. B. (2016). Religious participation predicts diurnal cortisol profiles 10 years later via lower levels of religious struggle. Health Psychology, 35(12), 1356.
Tomkins, A., Duff, J., Fitzgibbon, A., et al. (2015). Controversies in faith and health care. The Lancet, 386(10005), 1776–1785.
VanderWeele, T. J. (2017). Religion and health: A synthesis. In J. R. Peteet & M. J. Balboni (Eds.), Spirituality and religion within the culture of medicine: From evidence to practice. New York: Oxford University Press. Available via https://pik.fas.harvard.edu/files/pik/files/chapter.pdf. Accessed 12 Jan 2018.
VanderWeele, T. J., Yu, J., Cozier, Y. C., et al. (2017). Attendance at religious services, prayer, religious coping, and religious/spiritual identity as predictors of all-cause mortality in the black Women’s health study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 185(7), 515–522.
Vitetta, L., Anton, B., Cortizo, F., et al. (2005). Mind-body medicine: Stress and its impact on overall health and longevity. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1057(1), 492–505.
Williams, D. R., & Sternthal, M. J. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. The Medical Journal of Australia, 186(10 Suppl), S47–S50.
World Health Organization. (1999, April 7). Fifty-second World Health Assembly. Amendments to the constitution of WHO [web page]. Available via http://apps.who.int/gb/archive/pdf_files/WHA52/ew24.pdf. Accessed 12 Jan 2018.
Zhang, W. (2008). Religious participation and mortality risk among the oldest old in China. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 63(5), S293–S2S7.
Ziemssen, T., & Kern, S. (2007). Psychoneuroimmunology–cross-talk between the immune and nervous systems. Journal of Neurology, 254, II8–II11.
Zimmer, Z., Jagger, C., Chiu, C.-T., et al. (2016). Spirituality, religiosity, aging and health in global perspective: A review. SSM-Population Health, 2, 373–381.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Saad, M., Daher, J.C., de Medeiros, R. (2019). Spirituality, Religiousness and Physical Health: Scientific Evidence. In: Lucchetti, G., Prieto Peres, M.F., Damiano, R.F. (eds) Spirituality, Religiousness and Health. Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21221-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21221-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-21220-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-21221-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)