A study by Harvard researchers found that attending a religious service weekly leads to a longer life. Their conclusion was that frequent attendance at religious services was associated with significantly lower risk of death. Also, that religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that physicians could explore with their patients.
The conclusions published this year were based on the researcher’s study of data from 1992-2012 from 74,534 women who participated in the study. Women who attended religious services more than once per week were more than 30% less likely to die during a 16-year-follow-up than women who never attended.
Also, the more the attendance the greater the effect. Compared with women who never attended religious services, women who attended more than once per week had 33% lower mortality risk during the study period and lived an average of five months longer, the study found. Those who attended weekly had 26% lower risk and those who attended less than once a week had 13% lower risk.
Part of the benefit also seems to be that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on life.