Fitness and Faith
Dateline: 08/20/98
We've all wondered, at some point, about the interaction between religious faith and science. What are the proper boundaries for religious pronouncements and scientific pronouncements? Is there any intersection between the two? New research affirms previous studies indicating that people who hold deep religious convictions tend to be healthier.
Researchers discovered a connection between blood pressure, the study of the Bible, and attendance at church. Adults who were actively religious tended to have lower blood pressure than those who were less active. People who consistently attended church a minimum of once a week had lower blood pressure than those who attended less frequently.
Likewise, those who attended church at least once a week and who prayed and/or read the Bible daily had a 40% less chance of having a diastolic blood pressure of over 90. Such a pressure generally is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
These blood pressure associations were particularly strong among African Americans.
Interestingly enough, this correlation did not extend to other forms of religious activity, specifically religious television and radio programs. Active people in this group tended to have higher blood pressure than those who were not as active. The researchers deemed these programs as a bad substitute to physical church attendance in the study.
The approximately 4,000 randomly selected participants in the study were chosen from a predominately Protestant area in North Carolina in the United States. Participants were monitored for over a six year period starting in 1986. Two additional periods in 1989-1990 and 1992-1993 were also used.
Similar studies have reported a correlation between religious observance and enhanced function of the immune system. Again, researchers caution that additional studies must be implemented before definite causal effects can be drawn.
What do you think? How far might this biology-theology link go? Are there other links that should be explored? What about previous studies that have suggested additional correlations between the two? Come over to the Biology Forum and share your thoughts, opinions, and feelings. 'Til next time...
