WOMEN WHO GO TO CHURCH “ARE LESS LIKELY TO DIE EARLY”

WOMEN WHO GO TO CHURCH “ARE LESS LIKELY TO DIE EARLY” 

Going to church is good for women’s health and can cut the risk of dying early by three.

 Attending just once a week church program can link to a lower risk of death form all causes, a US study showed. 

Researchers say they do not know why, but expect it has to do with optimism and a sense of community overcoming the effects of stress and depression. 

Women who went to church more than once a week had a 33 percent lower risk of death during the 16 years, study compared with woman who never went to church. 

 Those who went weekly had a 26 percent lower risk and those who attended services less than a week had 13 percent lower risk. 

Dr. Tyler Vanderweele, a professor of epidemiology of the Harvard TH Chan school of Public Health in Boston looked at the church going of protestant and Roman Catholic nurses. 

Writing in JAMA internal medicine he said part of the benefit seems to be that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on life.