Religion promotes health

Two articles in the October 1989 Psychology Today reminded me again of the strong link between one's mental state and one's physical health.

The first says that "scientific evidence is beginning to support the biblical axiom that 'a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.' "¹ Adapted from Norman Cousins' book Head First: The Biology of Hope, this article cites research showing that laughter increases the activity of disease-fighting cells and may decrease pain by stimulating the production within the body of endorphins, the body's own morphine.

In effect, "laughter helps the body to provide its own medications."

The second article that caught my eye in this regard links one's spiritual state to one's mental and physical health. It re ports, "People high in spirituality . . . turned out to score high in psychological health. They also have fewer stress-related symptoms." And it goes so far as to say, "People who feel themselves in touch with God are less likely to get sick —and better able to cope when they do." ²

This article reports the continuing re search of Herbert Benson, a Harvard cardiologist. Benson and physiologist Robert Keith Wallace had discovered that transcendental meditation helped people reduce their stress levels.

Suspecting that the Eastern form of meditation that transcendental meditation promoted was not the only way of reducing tension, Benson checked the results of prayer among Christians and Jews—and found that it worked just as well. Simple, repetitive prayers produce what he calls the relaxation response, bringing benefits by reducing hypertension, headaches, and other pain. And prayer offered a significant advantage. The article notes that whereas those who meditated upon a single word or simple phrase tended to drop out because of boredom, "people who used [actual] prayers rather than meaningless phrases . . . stayed with the method."

These articles added to the evidence that our religion does more than prepare us for eternal life in a better world than this one. Our religion also offers many benefits to the life we live now—among them, the state of mind most conducive to physical health.

Other biblical directives, if heeded, would contribute to our health also. Paul wrote, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger" (Eph. 4:26, RSV). When we practice this counsel, we are not only dealing with sin in the proper way, we are improving the psychological environment in which we must live—a factor that affects our physical health.

Paul also wrote, "Owe no one any thing, except to love one another" (Rom. 13:8, RSV). Optimum health depends upon the freedom from anxiety that comes from having one's financial situation under control. But Paul's ad vice probably takes in more than merely monetary matters. Luke records Paul's declaration to Felix, "I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward God and toward men" (Acts 24:16, RSV). What peace would be ours individually, personally, if we always had a clear con science, if we owed no one anything in terms of apologies, confessions, or other spiritual, moral, or social obligations!

Jesus' statement that we must become as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven points in this direction as well. The image His words raise speaks of simple lives; of living in the present rather than the future. It speaks of openness; of relationships aboveboard, with problems handled immediately. It speaks of forgiveness freely given; of hurts forgotten. It speaks of the trust, the peace, the security, children feel when they rest them selves in parents who care for them and can provide all their needs.

Full physical restoration will be ours only when the kingdom of glory is established on this earth. But the kingdom of grace is here now. And even now we can know the joy of the more abundant life physically and mentally as well as spiritually.