Research results that "believing in religion" may lead to longevity

The word "those who believe will be saved" is used in ChristianityNew TestamentHowever, although it is a particularly famous phrase, research results that "People who believe religion actually live longer than non religious people" have been reported.

Does Religion Stave Off the Grave? Religious Affiliation in One's Obituary and Longevity - Laura E. Wallace, Rebecca Anthony, Christian M. End, Baldwin M. Way, 2018
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550618779820

One thing you'll find in the obits of many long-living people | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/osu-oty060818.php

A research team led by Mr. Laura Wallace, a graduate student at psychology at Ohio State University, was published in 42 cities in the United States between 2010 and 2011 to investigate the relationship between religious faith and longevity We analyzed 1096 dead articles. As a result, those who believed in religion or were clearly mentioned in the article that they were engaged in religious activities said that they had lived an average of 3.82 years longer than those who did not I understood that.

The reason why someone who believes in some kind of religion has a longer life expectancy than a non religious person probably because unhealthy customs such as alcohol and drug use are often restricted for religious reasons The research team guesses. Mr. Baldwin Way, a member of the research team and an associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University commented, "Prayers and ideas that many religions have set as precepts reduce stress and promote health improvement" It is.


It is also suggested that the citizenship of people living in urban areas may have a big influence on the relationship between religious beliefs and longevity. According to the research team,Five characteristics to form a personalityOf the cities where the residents' "openness to experience" is relatively high, we found that the difference in average life expectancy between "people who believe in religion" and "people who do not religion" is smaller than in low cities . Furthermore, it can be said that the lifetime of non-religious people has been prolonged because there was no big difference in the life span of religious believers. The researchers of this "longevity of non religious people"Spillover effect"It is said that he argued that the positive effect on relief's health can be more easily manifested in non-religious populations as the residents'" openness to experience "on average is higher.


However, this research is a preliminary one, and the research team commented that it would have to be reproduced in other research in order to clearly prove the relationship between religion and longevity. Moreover, it is expected that further research will be conducted not only in analyzing dead articles, but also demonstrating the relationship between religion and longevity.