An excerpt from God, faith and health Updated Wednesday, March 7, 2007 Ruth loved her synagogue. A grandmother of three, she was an attractive member of the same congregation that she had belonged to most of her life. For so many years, every time there was an event at temple – a Shabbat service, a special celebration for the children, a committee meeting – Ruth would be there. Besides her family of course, her Jewish faith and her love of Torah and Temple were the center of her life.
Ruth especially looked forward worship services. She loves the peace, the stillness as she sat holding her siddur, praying with others and experiencing the presence of God. Worshiping gave her a sense of calm and contentment, and a relaxed feel of wholeness. As Ruth got on in years, she began having health problems. Most were self-limiting – they would come and go – and none of them kept her away from temple for too long. Over time, though, her health problems became more serious, and they began to interfere with her synagogue activities. She started to have some rheumatological problems symptoms that it made increasingly difficult to get around. This condition made it painful to hold or carry things or be on her feet for long periods of time. Still, she felt preserved in her temple activities. One day Ruth felt an intense pain. Her doctor checked her out and sent her for a lengthy series of tests. The doctor was honest with her; it might be cancer. There would be many more tests, and they would prove to be tiring, painful, and nerve-racking. Ruth was terrified, and for a while was too exhausted even to go to temple. During the time that she spent at home, Ruth began reading books on the role of feelings and emotions in promoting health and hastening recovery from illness. She truly believed that a positive outlook was important, but it was hard to stay upbeat. Her preexisting conditions were difficult enough without having to deal with the threat of cancer. And without temple, she felt especially cut off from a source of deep joy. She became sad and depressed. Fortunately, the tests came back negative; Ruth did not have cancer. Soon she was able to return to temple and take part in worship and other activities once more. Remembering what she had read, Ruth tried to be especially aware of her body and her feelings while at worship. Her sadness lifted, and that old feeling of calm returned. She now has found that she can maintain these feelings even after services. All she has to do is close her eyes and silently pray, imagining herself sitting in the temple, and she is flooded once more with a warm relaxation. For a moment, her heart beats slower, her joints and muscles ache less, her tension fades away, and she rejoices in the knowledge that she has heeded the biblical call to “be still and know that I am God,” (Psalms 46:10). “Consider your soul,” suggested Reader’s Digest in its article “Eight Easy Ways to Look – and Feel – Years Younger.” Citing my work as evidence, the article named frequent churchgoing as the final key to “help you stay healthy, look and feel younger and live longer.” Yet just as reporting a religious affiliation doesn’t guarantee active religious participation, neither does frequent religious attendance necessarily imply anything more than sitting passively in a pew. There is strong evidence from numerous studies that going to church or synagogue is associated with positive health incomes, and we have a good idea why; but these studies don’t tell us what goes on in people’s hearts once they walk through the door. Not all people who attend services do so to worship collectively, to connect with God or a higher power. For some, attendance is motivated by a desire to please their family; for others, a perceived need to appear socially acceptable; still for others, loneliness or boredom. For these people, the social support benefits of attendance may still be present. That is, even if active, religious participation is motivated by reasons other than making some kind of considerable gains to be derived from fellowship with others. But for people whose churchgoing or synagogue experience is motivated by a desire to experience the joy of worship, practicing religion may have health benefits beyond those resulting from the effects of healthy habits and supportive networks. The worship experience may produce such feelings as hope, forgiveness, catharsis and love, which science tells us can affect our physiology, promoting health, and relieving stress. Just as research studies report benefits of religious affiliation and organized religious participation, so there is solid evidence that worshipping God has a positive influence on our health.
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