Michael Wiik wrote:
> Researchers have found, for example, that religious people live, on
> average, about seven years longer than other Americans. Levin cites a
> study done by California's respected Human Population Laboratory that
> tracked 5,000 people for 28 years and found that those who frequently
> attended church were 23 percent less likely to die during the study
> period than people who didn't regularly go to church. "This holds true
> even controlling for the fact that religious folks tend to avoid such
> behaviors as smoking and drinking that increase the risk of disease and
> death," Levin reported.
>
> Other studies have found that for each of the three leading causes of
> death in the United States -- heart disease, cancer and hypertension --
> people who report a religious affiliation have lower rates of illness.
> Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have reported that attending
> religious services at least once a month more than halved the risk of
> death due to heart disease, emphysema, suicide and some kinds of
> cancers.
What I think is occuring is simply a sort of placebo effect: those who
believe they are going to live on after death are less stressed out
about dying, and stress is a known major contributor to death rates for
the mentioned maladies.
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