Spiritual Wellness Benefits Health After All

There are many ways to keep your body healthy. Just because you eat healthy food and exercise, that does not necessarily mean you are 'healthy'. There are other factors that play a role in your all around physical being such as Social Wellness, Intellectual Wellness, Environmental Wellness, Occupational Wellness, Emotional Wellness, and lastly, Spiritual Wellness. Although all forms of fitness and wellness are important, spiritual wellness really stuck out for me. Why? Because Spiritual Wellness is the unifying power that brings together all dimensions of wellness.


Spiritually well people have claimed to have a sense of meaning and direction in life. Life is a joy to them, as it should be. But how can someone be spiritually well?
Studies show that people who attend church and regularly participate in religious organizations are proven to enjoy better health, have a lower incidence of chronic disease, handle stress more effectively, and live longer.

Next, prayer, otherwise known as a sincere and humble communication with God, has shown increase of Spiritual Wellness in numerous lifes.
Appoximately 200 studies have been conducted on prayer and the affect it has on spiritual wellness and health. As long as prayers are offered with love, empathy, sincerity, and compassion, postive health is an ongoing outcome. Some studies have even shown faster healing time and fewer complications in patients that didn't even know that they were being prayed for, compared with patients who were not prayed for.

• Hospitalized people who never attended church have an average stay of three times longer than people who attended regularly.
• Elderly people who never or rarely attended church had a stroke rate double that of people who attended regularly.
• In Israel, religious people had a 40% lower death rate from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Also, scientific studies have shown that people who are more religious show less cases of depression than those who are not. And those who do become depressed, recover faster than those who are not religious.

Lastly, my previous entry about Lincoln. Who can argue that prayers really work? This child will always amaze me, but in addition to his strength, the strength and power in prayer blows me away.

Matthew 6:7 "When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again."

John 15:7 But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted!

Matthew 26:41 "Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!"

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Most of this information, I have retrieved from my professor during our Health Lecture. I was very impressed that christianity was mentioned in our spiritual wellness chapter.

God listens, so speak up!

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50874

http://www.prayerguide.org.uk/bible.htm