Knowing you cannot change some things reduces stress. Dr. Shah concedes the study makes several, shall we say, leaps of faith. Spirituality and religion are not synonymous, he stresses. A balanced approach to materialism, respect for one's environment, volunteer work and tolerance for others. That, he feels, extends to issues like employment equity and social justice.
Prayer helps too, at a house of worship or at home, but so do yoga and meditation.
The results of this research mirror almost exactly the conclusions of two studies presented recently by the American Psychological Association. According to a meta-analysis of 42 studies that examined 125,000 people, the APA announced that regular attendance at one's church, synagogue, mosque or temple is related to longer life. The odds of survival for people who scored higher on measures of public and private religious involvement were 29 per cent higher than for those who scored lower on such measures, the APA said. Higher religious faith and spirituality were associated with increased coping, greater resilience to stress, a sunnier outlook on life, greater perceived social support and lower levels of anxiety. Ron Csillag is a Toronto writer specializing in religion.