Reasons to believe

People with religious or spiritual beliefs are much happier than nonbelievers.

If you like a bet that you really can’t lose, may I introduce you to Pascal’s Wager? Formulated by French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, it goes something like this: God exists or doesn’t, but we can’t know directly. So, we either believe in God, or we don’t. If we believe, we will live a happier life. If God exists, we will go to Heaven; if God doesn’t exist, we will still have led a happier life.

Atheists have railed against the argument, usually because of Pascal’s premise that we need to believe in God to lead a happier life—but a new study has shown he was right. People who believe in God or hold spiritual beliefs are happier, and they’re also healthier.

The UK’s Office for National Statistics has discovered that people with a religious faith were much more likely to be happier with their health than atheists and were also far less likely to be a smoker.1

Commenting on the results, Michael Wakelin, head of programs at London interfaith center Coexist House, said: “This has something to do with an attitude of gratitude.

“If you are of the opinion that God loves you and he created you, you are more likely to be grateful for what you have. Also, if you have a faith you are likely to be more hopeful for a better future so that even if things are a bit tough now, they will improve in God’s good time.”

But there’s more than gratitude going on. Other researchers who have looked at the connection between faith and wellbeing have noted two other factors at play: a sense of community and belonging, and having a sense of something greater than ourselves.

One study concluded that being religious or having spiritual beliefs was key to “positive aging,” or living a long, healthy and meaningful life. A religious faith gives structure and meaning to our lives and provides social support and community in the bad times, researchers from the University of Kent found.

Harold Koenig, a psychiatrist at Duke University, has spent his career researching the impact of religion and spirituality on our mental and physical health. He cites research studies conducted at Duke that demonstrate how religious beliefs overcome major depression, and how devout caregivers live longer lives.

In the latter study, Koenig found that having religious faith slows the aging process, a phenomenon that can be seen physically as it extends the life of telomeres, the caps on the end of our DNA strands that have been linked to aging. This was particularly noticeable in those with the strongest faith.2

Faith also gives us purpose, and when we serve, we do so through a sense of something greater, says Christina Puchalski from the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health. Understanding this common bond gives us compassion for others’ suffering, as psychiatrist Victor Frankl put it: “Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning.”

In her studies, Puchalski noted that people of faith lived longer and had lower levels of a protein called interleukin-6, another biological marker of chronic disease, and they were better able to cope with illness, pain and stress. They also recover more quickly from illness and surgery, as Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson and others have discovered when looking at the impact of our beliefs on our health.3

But it isn’t all good news. Religious beliefs can promote mental health and help people cope with adversity, especially if they have the support of a group or church, but these beliefs can also have a negative effect. Ideas of a Hell or sin can damage a person’s mental wellbeing, just as a belief in Heaven and forgiveness can give us a sense of improved mental wellbeing.4

Perhaps a therapist or psychiatrist who shares a patient’s religious beliefs could provide positive guidance and emphasize the beneficial aspects of religion. The trouble is that they are thin on the ground—when asked to list important factors in their lives, patients mentioned religion twice as often as psychiatrists did, one study found.5

Perhaps they hadn’t heard of Pascal’s Wager.

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