Here's an interesting fact. Bnei Brak, Israel's most
religious city, also has the highest average life
expectancy: 81.1 years for women and 77.4 years for men.
What makes that finding even more curious is that Bnei Brak
also happens to be Israel's poorest city, thus confounding
the expected correlation between increased wealth and
health. Moreover rates of smoking among males remain high,
and even a casual glance around the streets of Bnei Brak
will serve to establish that news of the benefits of
exercise and a low-fat diet has not yet reached most of it
inhabitants.
A growing body of scientific evidence suggests the key to
the longevity of Bnei Brak residents may be their
religiosity. Fully three-quarters of the 300 studies to date
of the relationship between religious belief and health have
shown a positive correlation. Various studies have shown
that religious belief and regular attendance at religious
services is associated with reduced doctors visits, a
reduced incidence of certain forms of cancer and heart
disease, and lower postoperative mortality and quicker rates
of recovery.
The Harvard Health News Letter recently devoted a full issue
to the impact of religiosity on health and courses in
healing and spirituality are proliferating in American
medical schools.
While none of the studies conducted to date can establish a
causal link between religious belief and improved health,
the associations shown are sufficient to give pause. A Duke
University study showed that those who attend religious
services once a week are half as likely to have elevated
blood levels of interleukin-6, which is associated with some
cancers and heart disease.
A 1995 Dartmouth Medical school study of 232 patients
recovering from open-heart surgery found that none of the 37
patients who described themselves as deeply religious died
over the first six months, while 21, or 10%, of the rest
did. Those who received strong community support reinforced
by strong religious belief were 14 times as likely to
survive as those who had neither.
One California study, conducted over 28 years and published
in 1997, found that those who attended religious services
weekly had a one-third lower death rate. (Orthodox Jewish
men pray three times daily, and Orthodox women one or more
times a day.)
Even when a strong community support structure is kept
constant, religious belief appears to have an independent
salutary effect. A study comparing residents of kibbutzim
with those of religious communities in Israel over 16 years,
found that the religious community had consistently lower
mortality rates for the entire period.
While some of the findings of positive correlations between
a religious life and improved health can be explained by
factors not uniquely associated with religion -- healthier
lifestyles, greater community support, reduced rates of
stress, which Harvard researcher Dr. Herbert Benson has
found to be related to prayer, and a generally upbeat,
optimistic attitude -- at least one finding has completely
stumped the scientists. Two Duke University researchers
presented a study of 150 patients suffering from acute heart
disease at the American Heart Association in which patients
who were prayed for did significantly better than those who
were not prayed for, even when the patient was completely
unaware that he or she was being prayed for!
There is a close correlation between depression and higher
mortality rates among older people. The large family-size in
the Orthodox community and the great stress on the mitzvah
of honoring one's parents help ensures that Bnei Brak's
elderly will be frequently visited by several generations of
descendants and experience the satisfaction on a constant
basis of witnessing their own continuity.
From an early age, the primary mental activity of most Bnei
Brak males is Talmudic study, and they continue to learn all
their lives, even after they have retired from other
pursuits. It is not unusual to see hundreds of young men in
their twenties eagerly hanging on the Talmudic discourses of
Torah sages in their late eighties or even nineties, with
both sides shouting back and forth in vigorous debate. The
constant source of intellectual stimulation provided by
Torah study helps preserve mental acuity and with it life
satisfaction.
Finally, Orthodox Jews have much higher rates of marriage
and lower rates of divorce, and there is an abundance of
evidence establishing the positive effects of marriage on
health. Nine of ten married men alive at 48 will make it to
65. The comparable figure for never married men is six out
of ten, and divorced and widowed men fare only slightly
better.
Of course no number of studies establishing a correlation
between religious belief and health can provide that faith
to those who lack it. But those who already possess that
faith will not be surprised that following G-d's instruction
book turns out to be good for you.
AM ECHAD RESOURCES
[Jonathan Rosenblum, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post,
where this article first appeared, serves as Am Echad's
Israeli director.]
