Prayer and Spirituality:
Faith Tested
Spirituality and Science Coming Together
Prayer and Spirituality
It is a pleasure to read about the growing numbers of respectable scientific research about the benefits of faith and prayer on healing. It is actually very exciting to read about the studies being conducted and published about the various aspects of holistic healing. It is this research and the anectdotal stories that has made holistic health so popular. We know it works AND now science is catching up!
In Your Bookstore on this website are many books about spirituality, prayer and healing. Larry Dossey, MD and Harold Koenig, MD are two medical doctors who praise the healing benefits of prayer and spirituality. Dr. Dossey discusses the benefits of prayer and spirituality-with or without the particular religious beliefs. Although reading about research can sometimes get rather dull, but reading about the clash between spirituality and science is anything but dull.
Prayer and Spirituality: The Healing Power of Faith?
Dr. Koenig is a medical doctor who is a specialist in geriatric medicine and in psychiatry. This was of interest to me since I am a family nurse practitioner working with geriatrics. In his book, The Healing Power of Faith, he discusses many wonderful aspects of religion, spirituality and prayer along with the supporting research. He has been involved in much of the research. Here is a brief summary. I encourage you to take a look at his books if this interests you.
Faith and Life Satisfaction
I spend most of my day with elderly people and those who care for them. I can't help but notice how some are joyful no matter what is going on around them-this is true for the staff, families and patients. These happy, optimistic people generally have a strong faith in God and usually would describe themselves as religious. They may not attend regular services, but they have their own rituals, believe in prayer and practice their faith to the best of their abilities. Many are also not afraid of death. My experience is supported by research studies that show that the emotionally tranquil older people often possess a strong religious faith, which they practice through regular prayer and congregational worship. They have a certainty that God has been their guide throughout their life and is still with them. This brings about feelings of joy, calm, security and satisfaction.
Prayer and Spirituality: Great Stress-Busters!
Prayer and Spirituality
There are many benefits to having a calm demeanor and having peace. A peaceful person is also stress resistant. I've devoted a whole page to stress and health.
There is another physician named Herbert Benson who has authored books and research. Research he did while at Harvard showed that repetitive prayer and nonreligious meditation have similar relaxation effects, but that people find more emotional comfort in prayer.
Repetitive prayer slowed the heart and breathing rates, lowered blood pressure and even calmed brain waves. No medication was needed! We all have the ability to provide healing benefits simply by praying or meditating. Who would have guessed that breathing and relaxing could be so good for us! Maybe that mid-afternoon nap in kindergarten was more than just a well deserved break for our teachers! There are many, many studies about the benefits of relaxation on the body. Many different interventions to reach a state of relaxation have been studied. Stress can kill, but it doesn't have to.
Prayer and Spirituality
Religion-Inside and Out
Social psychologist, Gordon Allport, identified intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity many years ago. He identified those who were intrinsic had a deep inner faith and were religious for religion's sake whereas those who were extrinsic used relgion to reach non-religious goals such as to meet friends or for power, status or prestige. Research has found that intrinsic religiosity was a stronger factor than social status or financial security in determining elderly people's self-perceived well-being and life satisfaction. I believe this may be because money and status may bring some satisfaction, but it is fleeting. The money and status can be gone tomorrow, and even if it isn't, the joy these things bring will be gone over time-it fades. A strong faith, however, stands strong and doesn't fade over time and is also something we know we can hold onto forever. Therefore, the joy we get from faith remains, and we are therefore more satisfied and happy. Kind of simple, isn't it? Believe it or not, there is actually a science of happiness. I found this information fascinating, and devoted a several webpages to it.
Prayer and Spirituality
Religious People Have Stronger Marriages and Families
Studies support that couples who share a strong bond of faith were happier in their marriages. According to research by P. Kunz and S. Albrecht, couples who regularly practiced a common religion had stable marriages. Other studies have supported these. In the mid 1980s, Wilson and Filsinger studied 90 couples. They were all white and married and lived in a southwestern city. They found high levels of satisfaction in the marriages with people who got positive emotional reinforcement from traditional religious practices such as prayer, devotional reading and group worship. Similar studies have been done with evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Seventh-Day Adventists.
Prayer and Spirituality
Religious people have Healthy Lifestyles
I'm trying to think of a major religion that doesn't encourage healthy living, and I'm coming up with a blank. There are various habits encouraged such as abstinance from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, of course. Devout Hindus are strict vegetarians as are many traditional Buddhists. All established religions discourage drunkenness, risky sexual behavior and any habit that can be harmful to the body. Adolescents from strong religious backgrounds who attend worship service, pray and read scripture are far less likely to drink alcohol, smoke tobacco or experiment with drugs. Pre-marital sex is also less common in this group as compared with less religious teens.
Prayer and Spirituality
Addictive Behavior
In the late 1970s, a pioneering study that looked at the power of religious faith to heal addicts' longing for heroin was conducted by David Desmond, at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. He looked at male heroin addicts undergoing treatment at a local hospital. Some of these men later joined inpatient religious recovery programs. He found that after a year, those in the religious-based recovery programs were almost eight times more likely to report abstinence from heroin than those who received purely secular treatment. That's right: 8 times more likely. That's pretty big! Addicted people who turn to religion and spirituality for support probably receive both emotional and physical support from their faith. People have lower stress levels, which is good for their health, of course. They have improved mood which directly impacts those chemicals in the brain. You have the ability to Turn the Power on!
Prayer and Spirituality; Religion AND Weight Control
No need to say that we have a huge problem with obesity in the United States. Our young children are now suffering from chronic diseases once reserved for older adults. Simply put, we're making some real bad choices. High calorie, nutrient poor foods and not enough exercise can be as deadly as using illegal drugs or smoking cigarettes. Faced with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, significant suffering and early death, people turn to quick fixes and other unhealthy options. This information is not new to you, I'm sure. However, research has found that the support of a loving family or close-knit social community such as a religious congregation can bolster that motivation and perseverance so badly needed for change to happen.
Two spiritually based weight loss programs are becomming more popular. Two of the groups are First Place and Prayer Walking. In the First Place groups, prayer is used to reduce the tension associated with food. www.firstplace.org have several books and programs to help people start their own group. They are also offered on my amazon.com bookstore. Prayer walking is just like it sounds-walking and praying at the same time. I find this fairly easy to do since when I walk, my mind rattles around to a few big topics of the day and I contemplate them. with walking prayer, you center on the prayer and your steps and try to avoid all else. This is a very meditative walk and offers many benefits to the body, mind and spirit. If you haven't tried this before, I encourage you try it and consider adopting it.
Prayer and Spirituality
Stress and Spirituality/Religion
I'm not sure there has been one page in this entire site that didn't mention Stress. This is because stress so permeates our lives and is responsible for the breakdown of our bodies, minds and spirits. With that being said, it isn't really Stress that does all this nasty stuff-it is our reaction and perception to the events that go on around us.
Many of us have become busier as we age. We are being pulled at from many directions and probably even more so since the advent of email, cell phones, instant messaging and so on. It wasn't that long ago when I thought a pager in my purse was like a weight around my neck, but now... I actually had a nursing job in a hospital once where we carried pagers and anytime our patients would ring their bells for assistance, we would get electronically paged. This sounds just great except when you think that I had about 10 patients and the pager would go off anytime-when I was in the bathroom, eating lunch... I was responsible to get in there. It is no wonder there is a real physical problem coined 'nurses' bladder.' Our work isn't our only source of stress. Many of us have unresolved issues at home, financial concerns, children with too many sports and social activities leaving us feeling more like taxi drivers than parents.
The common stressors of our everyday lives just build and buid into this tornado of negative emotions. These directly impact our BODY in big ways. Want to feel and look young? Avoid this tornado. How, you ask? Remember, it is not just what goes on around us, it is our REACTION to it all.
Prayer and Spirituality
Research reaveals that religious people cope better with major stress evetns than those who lack the comfort of strong faith or the emotional support of a congregation. This research was conducted at Duke University and other institutions, as well. The basic elements that give meaning and purpose to their lives were not so easily threatened, even by big life changes such as financial crumblings, serious physical illnesses, or even the death of loved ones. The annoyance and hectic pace of everyday life doesn't threaten the religious/spiritual people as much because their values are based in something very firm, consistant and secure for them. Dr. Koenig believes that this research and his other research with older adults that echoed these findings contrasts sharply with previously wide-spread assumptions-the assumptions by the medical profession and others (and still is by some) that those who seek comfort in relgion are typically mariginal, insecure people who are driven by failure.
Prayer and Spirituality: Depression
Much Closer Relationship than We Think.
Prayer and Spirituality
Depression is suffered by millions of Americans. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates about 17.6 Americans suffer from depression each year (and these numbers are probably bigger now!) costing upwards of 44 billion (that's BILLION) dollars in treatment and lost work.
Depression can be minor or it can be very debilitating. We're inundated with television ads about medications right now-supposedly to bring the awareness to the average American-but also to sell pills, of course. What was once a rarely discussed condition is now common water-cooler talk. The stigma of being for depression is far less than it once was. I see people everyday who suffer with depression and whose body is impacted by it. Sometimes it is the physical problems that trigger the depression such as in the case of someone who has lost the ability to walk or who suffers with chronic pain. Sometimes life events such as deaths and other losses trigger it. Sometimes these fade away in time, and sometimes the depression lingers. Sometimes it is the depression that preceeds the physical illness, though. Many life-threatening diseases are made worse and even caused by depression. Depression causes physical changes in our bodies.
Prayer and Spirituality
Research on Midwestern parents who'd lost young children to cancer and blood disorders revealed that the emotional comfort of relgious faith helped most of them adjust to their loss. Not only did it help them cope with the loss, their faith was actually strengethened by the loss. Another midwestern study looked at adolescent siblings who had lost a brother or sister. The teenagers in the study who found value in their religious beliefs were initially more depressed than their less religious peers. In fact, the non religious peers reported feeling numb and had fear and other depressive symptoms following their loss. The religious group suffered more intrusive images of their dead siblings, suicidal thougths and even eating disorders. The key difference here, though, was two years after the death, the religious teenagers had fewer symptoms of depression than the nonreligious group. Many of the nonreligious group reported continued depressed feelings and troubles eating. I think an interesting study would look at faith, spirituality], religion and life experiences on loss. I would imagine that a more mature individual faces loss differently than a young person with little life experience to hold onto. The fear of the unknown is huge.
Research also supports that religious/spiritual people live longer, healthier lives, that spirituality/religion may protect us from cardiovascular disease, and boost our immune systems (this goes back to the stress response). This is very exciting news! You can reduce your chances of being 'victim' to many terrible diseases. And if you should develop a terrible disease, know that your beliefs can boost your own body's ability to fight and protect itself to get you back to a healthy state-or for most of us, that means to a healthier state than we were before we became ill.
There is much more research out there to report, and the findings are fairly consistant. Even with all the data out there, there is still so little done by the medical profession (no established practial clinical guidelines to incorporate pateints' spirituality) for the person afflicted with depression. As you might imagine, this is changing-slowly-but it is changing. I'm a family nurse practitioner and I incorporate holistic practices. I'm not alone. There are large organizations that are growing including the American Holistic Nurses Association of which I am a member and the American Holistic Medical Association.
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