As we age, we typically experience more and more physical issues. This is why it is especially important for seniors to make good decisions that lead to healthy, long lives, such as abstaining from alcohol or nonprescription drugs. Another healthy decision that seniors can make is to attend a church service regularly. Increasingly, research points to regular church attendance as a good marker of health. It’s not just about the belief that a higher power is looking out for you. The benefits are beyond the spiritual and touch on others parts of your mind and your physical body.
Let’s take a look at how.
The Spirit
You relationship with church and spirituality is deeply personal and unique to you. It can be difficult to aggregate how church attendance affects every parrishoner, but some aspects appear to be nearly universal. The teachings and activities (i.e., prayer) of most religious institutions touch on the concept of mindfulness, staying in the present and not getting caught up in the insignificant daily stresses or the enormous stresses caused by external things that we simply cannot control.
According to DrugRehab.org, “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.” Church allows us a place to do just that. It also provides hope and ways to cope with whatever stresses you are dealing with in your life.
The Mind
After your working and child-rearing days are behind you, less is demanded of you on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis. This is definitely one of the benefits of retirement, but it can also cause seniors to experience loneliness and boredom. The mind is a muscle. If you do not stimulate it with continued thoughts and new experiences, it will atrophy and become weaker. Regular church attendance combats loneliness by providing you with a sense of community where you can feel kinship and make friends. Bible study groups can also provide that, with the added benefit of stimulating different parts of your brain. All this keeps your mind sharper and more focused. Finally, volunteering for service-oriented projects organized through your church is a great way to feel valuable and give you a moderate amount of physical activity.
The Body
Some research has linked regular church attendance with living a longer life. CNN reported on one medical study that followed 75,000 female nurses over two decades. It found that those who attended church regularly had a lower risk of dying than those who’d never attended church. The authors of the study noted that physically attending church was more predictive of good health than things like private prayer or just the belief in a higher power. A separate study focused on middle-aged men and women similarly found that those who’d physically attended a church service at least once in the past year were half as likely to die prematurely. It found a correlation between religious services and lower stress levels and longevity. It appears that there is simply something special about physically attending a religious service that benefits the physical body.
Making healthy decisions can have a major effect on seniors’ quality of life and longevity. Regardless of what religious institution you prefer, regular attendance can benefit your life in a multitude of ways.
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