There may be more to gain from following the golden rule than just its spiritual and social benefits.
Evidence is mounting that religious commitment is scientifically linked to physical and psychological health and longevity. Fourteen Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame ? all more than 90 years old ? were assessed last week as part of a Kentucky University study of aging and Alzheimer?s disease.
“The closest I can get to [the faith-health connection] are our findings on positive emotions in early life and longevity,” Dr. David Snowden, neurology professor at the university?s College of Medicine, said of his ongoing, 20-year study of 678 Notre Dame nuns nationwide. “For those that mentioned positive emotions [in their archived, early autobiographies] ? love, happiness, optimism ? they ended up living about 10 years longer [than the others who hadn?t cited positive emotions].”
Of the 678 original participants, 74 women ? all older than 90 ? remain, Snowden said. More than 500 had donated their brains to the university?s Chandler Medical Center for further study, with study results to date showing that “traits in early, mid- and late life have strong relationships with risk … of disabilities of old age.”
“They are very positive about the experience,” study liaison Sister Bernice Feilinger said of the nuns in her community near Towson. “They are happy that they continue to be educators, and they feel as if they?re making a difference in society.”
Snowden is director of the $2 million National Institute on Aging study of elderly women-in-community ? one of a minority of longitudinal studies of women?s health ? and though it was not designed to directly assess religious observance and health factors, its implications are not lost on Snowden.
“Certainly the community and the mentality or the structure by which they see the world and operate in the world is a real anchor,” Snowden observed, noting that he saw this operate when he was with the nuns during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“There are all sorts of scientific literature about social isolation raising your risk of heart disease and stroke. Many studies strongly show the import of social contact and relationship [for health and longevity].”
Such studies include a 1998 meta-study in the “Archives of Family Medicine” by Dr. Dale A. Matthews, of the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, and others, which found that the “published literature suggests that religious commitment might play a role in enhancing illness prevention, coping with illness and recovery.” Numerous other, later studies attested to the same connection.
