You’ve Got to Have Faith

THE MIND & BODY BENEFITS OF SPIRITUALITY

For more than a decade, Women’s Brain Health Initiative (WBHI) has been sharing evidence-based information about brain health in easy-to-understand and engaging formats, including in Mind Over Matter®. In 2022, WBHI launched the BrainFit - Habit Tracker app to support individuals in establishing and maintaining brain-healthy habits. The app allows users to choose from more than 100 habits but also features the opportunity for users to create their own unique habits to track.

A few months after the app’s launch, an analysis of user-added custom habits revealed that spiritual practices, such as praying or attending religious services, were significant. Delving into the research literature, WBHI discovered that spirituality and religion have been studied scientifically and are indeed relevant to brain health.

PRAYER CAN CALM THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, HELP REDUCE ANXIETY SYMPTOMS, ANGER, AND REACTIVITY TO NEGATIVE EMOTIONS, AND POSITIVELY IMPACT EPISODIC MEMORY IN OLDER ADULTS.

Backed by the evidence, Engage in Spiritual Practice was added as a habit that others could also track without needing to add it manually.

Research on spirituality and prayer is complex. While related, religion and spirituality are different, involving many facets that can be “measured” differently.

This article focuses on academic reviews and meta-analyses, which combine findings across multiple studies to reach broad conclusions.

Combined, consistent evidence supports a positive connection between religion/spirituality and various aspects of health, i.e., physical, cognitive, and mental ones. However, the strength of these connections is typically modest, and some studies have found negative associations.

PHYSICAL HEALTH BENEFITS

In the 2018 book, Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health: Evidence, Implications, and Resources, Dr. Doug Oman and colleagues examined more than 100 peer-reviewed meta-analyses and systematic reviews of religion/spirituality and health.

The authors concluded that, collectively, the evidence indicates religious/spiritual involvement is associated with better health in most cases.

ALTHOUGH MUCH OF THE RESEARCH IS CORRELATIONAL, RESEARCHERS NOTED THAT A COMPELLING CASE CAN BE MADE THAT THE ASSOCIATION IS CAUSAL, I.E., RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY DIRECTLY INFLUENCES HEALTH.

“Dozens of studies have found religion/spirituality to be generally protective against all-cause mortality, with  some evidence suggesting lower rates of cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and respiratory mortality, in particular,” said Dr. Oman, a professor at University of California, Berkeley.

“Much research also indicates that religious/spiritual involvement is associated with other physical health benefits, including lower rates of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and disability, as well as lower levels of pain.”

COGNITIVE BENEFITS

In a 2017 systematic review of 17 studies published in The Gerontologist, Dr. Mark Oremus and colleagues investigated the effect of religion and spirituality on cognitive function. The studies used varying definitions of religious and spiritual involvement.

For example, some looked at private religious practices such as prayer, reading religious books, watching/listening to religious programs on TV or the radio, fasting, or donating to the poor, while others examined the effects of formal/organizational religious practices such as going to a place of worship for services or meetings.

Some used self-rated measures, while others used observer-rated measures. And some did not measure externally visible actions at all and instead considered religious affiliation, religious beliefs, or religious self-identity.

THE RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT MOST (82%) OF THE INCLUDED STUDIES REPORTED POSITIVE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION.

Specifically, the evidence reviewed suggests that religious or spiritual involvement may help protect against cognitive decline in seniors from a Christian background. More research is needed to look at the potential impact of religion/spirituality on the cognitive function of adults of other ages and religious denominations.

Another review – by Dr. Océane Agli and colleagues, published in 2014 in International Psychogeriatrics – suggests that spirituality/religion can even benefit older adults who already have dementia.

Three of the 11 articles included in this review showed that individuals who were more deeply involved in their spirituality/religion tended to experience a reduction or stabilization of their cognitive disorders. The other eight articles showed that using spirituality/faith in daily life helped individuals with dementia improve their quality of life through coping strategies, maintaining hope, and providing meaning in their lives.

MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS

Much research, including a meta-analysis by Dr. Bert Garssen and colleagues, has shown a consistent but modest association between religiousness/spirituality and various measures of mental health.

In that meta-analysis of 48 studies – published in 2021 in The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion – the researchers concluded that there is evidence for a positive but small effect of religiousness/spirituality on mental health overall. When they looked at specific types of spirituality/religiousness, though, they found that only two types were significantly related to mental health: participation in public religious activities and the importance of religion.

Just what types of mental health benefits might spirituality/religion provide? A 2021 review by Dr. Giancarlo Lucchetti and colleagues – published inWorld Journal of Clinical Cases – found a large amount of evidence related to numerous psychiatric disorders.

“Our review revealed solid evidence linking spirituality and religiousness to reduced rates of depression, suicidality, and substance use. We also found promising results for other diagnoses, including post-traumatic stress disorders, psychosis, and anxiety,” said Dr. Lucchetti, an associate professor in the medical school at Federal University of Juiz de Fora in Brazil.

IT’S PRETTY CLEAR THAT SPIRITUALITY/RELIGIOUSNESS IS ASSOCIATED WITH MENTAL HEALTH, AND WE SUSPECT THE EFFECTS ARE LIKELY BIDIRECTIONAL. THAT MEANS THAT SPIRITUALITY/RELIGIOUSNESS CAN AFFECT MENTAL HEALTH, BUT MENTAL HEALTH CAN ALSO AFFECT SPIRITUALITY/RELIGIOUSNESS.

WHY ARE RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY & HEALTH LINKED?

What is it about religious or spiritual beliefs and practices that could be influencing health? There is no single mechanism to explain the relationship. Rather, researchers believe that many potential underlying mechanisms may be involved.

What’s interesting is that several of these potential mechanisms are among the Six Pillars of Brain Health: stress management, mental stimulation, and social activity. (The Six Pillars of Brain Health are key modifiable evidence-informed lifestyle factors that help reduce dementia risk. And, because the body is complex with all its parts and systems interrelated in many ways, what’s good for the brain is good for the healthy functioning of the entire body.)

Some of the potential explanations for the association between religion/spirituality and health include:

• the activities involved in religious services – such as singing, praying, and listening to sermons – can provide mental stimulation;

• religious activities often include social elements that can provide mental stimulation in addition to social engagement. The social network created through religious involvement can increase social activity outside of direct religious activities, e.g., friendships develop, and volunteering may happen, resulting in a more socially engaged lifestyle overall;

• most religious teachings encourage supporting and caring for others, so people who are members of a religious community often have access to greater amounts of social support. The resulting help in times of need can help reduce stress and boost health and well-being;

• religious/spiritual individuals may feel emotionally supported by their experiences of a divine presence who listens to their prayers and provides comfort;

• religious/spiritual involvement may provide mental stimulation as participants ponder “deep” thoughts about the meaning of life;

·       people with strong religious or spiritual faith tend to have a greater sense of meaning and life purpose, which helps reduce the impact of life’s stressful events and protect against anxiety and depression;

• religious involvement tends to encourage healthy behaviours and discourage risky behaviours, e.g., more frequent religious attendance is strongly linked with lower alcohol consumption, never smoking, and more exercise;

• spirituality/religion are associated with positive human virtues, such as gratitude, forgiveness, compassion, and altruism, which may play a role in improving various aspects of health, especially mental health; and

• some religious behaviours, such as contemplative prayer, can reduce self-focus, worry, and rumination, thereby reducing stress and positively contributing to mental health.

Although most studies have found spirituality/religion to be associated with better health outcomes, some have found negative associations. One explanation for the inconsistent findings is that different facets or measures of religion/spirituality may be associated with different aspects of health.

For example, research has found that positive religious/spiritual coping (e.g., feeling like the Divine is supportive and forgiving) is associated with positive mental health, while negative coping (e.g., feeling unheard, abandoned, or punished by the Divine) is associated with various negative mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, and addiction.

More research is needed to flesh out with more certainty which facets of religion or spirituality are responsible for the associations with health benefits, positive and negative.