Research shows women who attend church live longer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A correlation has been made between women who attend church and a longer lifespan, according to research by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The study, published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, found that women who attend services more than once a week live 33 percent longer than women who don’t, The Christian Post reported.

“Our results suggest that there may be something important about religious service attendance beyond solitary spirituality,” said Tyler VanderWeele, professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s Chan School and senior author of the study. “Part of the benefit 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.”

The study concluded that “religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that physicians could explore with their patients, as appropriate.” (TAB)