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posted by mrpg on Tuesday June 19 2018, @09:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the god-is-real-not-an-integer dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

[...] A new nationwide study of obituaries has found that people with religious affiliations lived nearly four years longer than those with no ties to religion.

That four-year boost -- found in an analysis of more than 1,000 obits from around the country -- was calculated after taking into account the sex and marital status of those who died, two factors that have strong effects on lifespan.

[...] "We found that volunteerism and involvement in social organizations only accounted for a little less than one year of the longevity boost that religious affiliation provided," Wallace said. "There's still a lot of the benefit of religious affiliation that this can't explain."

So what else explains how religion helps people live longer? It may be related to the rules and norms of many religions that restrict unhealthy practices such as alcohol and drug use and having sex with many partners, Way said.

In addition, "many religions promote stress-reducing practices that may improve health, such as gratitude, prayer or meditation," he said.

[...] Way said there are limitations to the study, including the fact that it could not control for important factors related to longevity such as race and health behaviors. But a potential strength was that, unlike other studies, religious affiliation was not self-reported, but was reported by the obituary writer.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @01:05PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @01:05PM (#694959)

    Has anyone already checked whether Apple believers or Linux evangelists live longer than the average computer user? :-)

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:19PM (#694993)

    If Jobs is any example to go by comparing longevity to Gates. . .