Saving Grace
How church going is good for Seniors
Want to live longer, lower your blood pressure and be a generally happier, healthier person? Try going to church. Studies show that religiosity and regular church attendance have a host of benefits for our mental and physical well-being.
Today, Journey of Rani outlines some of the many positive impacts that religious practice has on overall mental and physical health for everyone around you.
A Community of Believers
One of the difficulties people face as they age is loneliness. Churchgoing provides ample opportunities for socialization and helps seniors to stay busy in retirement. But more than just prayer, potlucks and chili suppers, religious attendance provides access to people who are vested in your well-being.
Just having a larger social safety net, in the form of people who are expecting to see you, can help ward off disaster. Parishioners are likely to be checked on, if they don’t make it to services. If they are ill, they are likely to be visited. If they encounter difficulties, they have more people to rely on. This can be especially vital for elderly people without nearby relatives. Studies cited by NPR suggest that elders who report feeling lonely are at a higher risk for death and depression.
Additionally, church communities can come together for health and wellness, such as cooking healthy dinners for those who cannot do it themselves or working together to develop senior-friendly exercise routines and practices. For example, seniors enrolled in a participating Medicare Advantage program can take part in the SilverSneakers program at no additional cost to them. This way, they can get the exercise they need and the socialization they crave.
The Power of Belief
Religiously active people tend to report having a more positive conception of God than people who merely identify as spiritual. This conception of a “loving God” is correlated with decreased levels of stress and better health in general. While this can be considered an example of the placebo effect, the data does seem to show that if a patient believes in the power of prayer, and people pray for them, they experience decreased pain and more rapid healing. If you believe that you should be in church, and you go regularly, you are more likely to perceive yourself to be on the right path, living in harmony with your own principles.
CNN reports that people who regularly attend church are also less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors like smoking, drinking alcohol, or using drugs, and people who have struggled with these problems are more likely to make successful recoveries if they are part of an active religious community. Church is a place where we can be mindful of our blessings and cultivate a more positive outlook.
It can be difficult to make ourselves focus on the here and now, especially if we’re going through a transition as life-changing as addiction recovery. But taking even a few minutes a day to be mindful of all we have in the present moment - and especially all we have to be grateful for - can help us feel more at peace with ourselves, our surroundings, and our circumstances.
Each year, a larger and larger proportion of our nation’s population becomes senior citizens. Baby boomers are expected to place a strain on the country’s social safety net, with frightening implications for Social Security and Medicare in the next few decades. Coming up behind them, at a distance, are the millennials, who will one day dwarf even the baby boomers’ vast numbers.
Gerontology and the science of aging and struggling to keep up with our increasing life spans and help us to make the most of our extended years. But in recent decades, much of the country has fallen away from organized religion, and many have begun to question its place in society. It may be prudent to heed the research indicating that religious practices and beliefs can have extremely beneficial effects on our physical and mental health. Those churches, synagogues, and mosques we’ve been neglecting may have a great deal more to offer us in our golden years.
Shanthini of Journey of Rani is a wife, a mother of 2 wonderful boys, and a wellness enthusiast who crafts jewelry and can put together Ikea furniture… all by herself! She’d love to hear from you!
Guest blog post by: Courtney Rosenfeld