Research out of Ohio University has found that religious people live longer than those who are atheist or agnostic.

 

Previous research has linked attending religious services and living longer, however, these older studies used volunteer samples and self-reported data.

 

This Social Psychological and Personality Science-published study instead looked at obituaries, assessing whether or not it was mentioned that a person was religious.

 

The researchers examined a total of 1,500 obituaries from across the US and found that the average person whose obit mentioned they were religious lived 5.64 years longer than their atheist or agnostic peers.

 

 

When the team controlled for marriage rates (as marriage also contributes positively to longevity), they found that religious folk live 3.82 years longer than their non-religious counterparts.

 

“The study provides persuasive evidence that there is a relationship between religious participation and how long a person lives,” Baldwin Way, co-author of the study and associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University, told the Independent.

 

Their findings also suggest that living in an especially religious area can amplify the effect of this link. Analysing 500 obits from the Des Moines, Iowa area, the team found that being religious was linked to living 6.48 years longer.

 

 

One proposed mechanism for why religious people live longer is because of the social aspect of religion. This helps prevent loneliness and a sedentary lifestyle.

 

However, the researchers said this didn't account for much of the religion-longevity effect.

 

“We found that volunteerism and involvement in social organisations only accounted for a little less than one year of the longevity boost that religious affiliation provided,” Laura Wallace, the study’s lead author, said.

 

 

“There’s still a lot of the benefit of religious affiliation that this can’t explain.”

 

They suggested that perhaps religious people's likelihood to abstain from alcohol and drugs could contribute to this longevity gap, as indulging in either shortens people's lifespan.

 

However, drug and alcohol tendencies were not usually documented in the obituaries.

 

Stress reducing practices like meditation and prayer could also help explain why religious people live longer.

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