Religion has positive effect on blood pressure

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study on African Americans shows that those who were involved in religious activities had lower blood pressure than those who were not.
Previous work has suggested that participation in religious and spiritual activities may have a positive effect on health. In the largest investigation of its kind, the Jackson Heart Study, researchers at the Univeristy of Mississippi Medical Center set out to investigate the impact of religion on blood pressure.

A group of over 5,000 participants were given a detailed questionnaire about all aspects of their religious and spiritual lives. Female gender, lower socioeconomic status, increasing age and lower cortisol were all linked to religious participation. Those who were very religious also had higher body mass index and lower levels of medication adherence - yet their blood pressure was lower than those who were not religious. The study supports previous evidence on the 'buffering' effect of religion and spirituality on the heart and circulation.

Source
American Society of Hypertension meeting 18th May 2006