Sunday, March 22, 2009

Prayer and its Scientific Power

By Deborah Lindholm

The connection between mind and body has powerful and amazing possibilities. Dr. Herbert Benson, a professor from Harvard Medical School founded the BHI, Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine; also part of Massachusetts General Hospital. He is of the belief that a person's physical health is influenced by feelings, thoughts and behaviors. The same feelings, thoughts and behaviors can also be influences by physical symptoms. This is yet another amazing cycle of life at work.

We still don't have a concrete understanding of how a person's behaviors, feelings and thoughts are able to affect the development of disease as well as the body's ability to recover. Yes, we are aware of the fact some people have the ability to change their own thoughts with prayer with seemingly miraculous results such as the reversal of a terminal condition. However we still have to work on discovering exactly how these beliefs and thoughts affect our body. We do know that mind and body communicate constantly. What our mind experiences, thinks or perceives allows our brain to send such information to the rest of our body directly and steadily.

The mind body approach to medicine attempts to teach patients to reduce stress and change their thoughts, negative behaviors, and embrace their beliefs to both control their health and to prevail over illness. One powerful way people have been influencing their health and the health of others for centuries is through prayer.

Prayer for healing is found amongst all religions, from Judaism to Buddhism, Islam to or Christian. Prayer groups, healing circles and even prayer groups held online can be found the world over. An article found in the Washington Post says, "Surveys have found that perhaps half of Americans regularly pray for their own health, and at least a quarter have others pray for them."

This does not imply the religious are the only advocates of health-altering prayer. There are citations in quantum physics of a phenomenon where particles from afar affect the behavior in others in a multitude of mysterious ways. This could bring about the conclusion that having people pray for you can actually send energy in your direction, and this energy can, and does affect the health of the person for whom the prayers are being said.

Additional to quantum physics citations there have been an abundance of studies conducted over the years, finding strong links between health and prayers. Although the reasons remain unclear at this time, many theories are continually being tested.

In one study of 990 cardiac patients conducted at Saint Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., researchers found prayer improved health based on a composite score of measures that the researchers created for the study.

In an interview conducted by Heritage.org with Dr. Harold G. Koenig, a tenured associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University, an associate professor of medicine, the director and founder of the Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health at Duke University, several smaller studies were cited. "(In these studies)You find a connection between religious involvement and immune and endocrine function; in five of seven studies, the religious experience lower mortality from cancer; in 14 of 23, they have significantly lower blood pressure; in 11 of 14, they have lower mortality; and in 12 of 13, clergy mortality is lower."

There's no doubt that prayer has a significant effect on our health and mortality. As scientists are able to better define parameters and control groups we'll continue to gain more insight on the hows and whys of this indisputable connection. Until then, it's powerful to know that our thoughts and beliefs have a direct effect on our health and mortality and the health and mortality of others. - 14130

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