Can Sprituality Affect Your Family's Health?

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How Can Spirituality Affect Your Family's Health? Can spirituality promote a healthier physical life for your family? Recent medical studies indicate that spiritual people exhibit fewer self-destructive behaviors (suicide, smoking, and drug and alcohol abuse, for example), less stress, and a greater total life satisfaction.

Much of the research linking spiritual and physical health has involved elderly patients, however, the data offer a glimpse into a possible tie between a spiritual life and good health for people of all ages.

Although spirituality has been shown to reduce depression, improve blood pressure, and boost the immune system, religious beliefs should not interfere with the medical care your child receives. But when combined with proper medical care, spirituality may be the answer to your family's prayers.

So what exactly is spirituality and how can it enhance your family's health?

What Is Spirituality?

"Spirituality is an awareness of the divine or sacred core that underlies everyday life," says Sandra Hassink, MD, a pediatrician at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Hassink views spirituality as "an ongoing search for meaning, and this may involve an appreciation for creation and the natural world as well as traditional spiritual pathways." This search can be conducted on your own or as part of a larger group - a religious community, friends, or your own family.

Spirituality and Physical Health

Doctors and scientists once avoided the study of spirituality in connection to medicine, but findings within the past 10 years have made some take a second look. Studies show that religion and faith can help to promote good health and fight disease by:

--offering additional social supports, such as religious outreach groups improving coping skills through prayer and a philosophy that all things have a purpose Although research on children has yet to be done, a number of studies focusing on adults point to the positive effects of spirituality on medical outcome:

--In a 7-year study of senior citizens, religious involvement was associated with less physical disability and less depression. Death rates were lower than expected before an important religious holiday, which suggested to researchers that faith might have postponed death in these cases.

--Churchgoers who attended services at least once a week and prayed or studied the Bible at least daily had consistently lower blood pressure than those who did less frequently or not at all.

--Elderly people who regularly attend church have healthier immune systems than those who don't.

--Patients undergoing open-heart surgery who received strength and comfort from their religion were three times more likely to survive than those who had no religious ties.

Spirituality and Mental Health

Religious and spiritual beliefs are an important part of how many people deal with life's joys and hardships. Faith can provide people with a sense of purpose and guidelines for living. When families face tough situations, including health problems, their religious beliefs and practices can help them fight feelings of helplessness, restore meaning and order to life situations, and promote regaining a sense of control. For some families, spirituality can be a powerful and important source of strength.

Medical studies have confirmed that spirituality can have a profound effect on mental states. In a study of men who were hospitalized, nearly half rated religion as helpful in coping with their illness. A second study showed that the more religious patients were, the more quickly they recovered from some disorders. A third study revealed that levels of hope and optimism, key factors in fighting depression, are the highest among strictly practicing Calvinists, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Jews.

How Can Your Spiritual Beliefs Enhance Your Parenting?

Attending organized religious services may help some families connect with their spiritual values, but this is not the only way. There are a number of less traditional paths to help children and parents begin their personal quest for spiritual meaning.

To foster spirituality within your own family, you may want to examine your own values. Ask yourself questions: What is important to me? How well do my daily activities mirror my values? Do I neglect issues that matter to me because I'm busy spending time on things that matter less?

Here are other suggestions to start your family's spiritual journey:

--Explore your roots. In examining your shared past, you and your children may connect with values of earlier times and places, as well as gain a sense of your extended family's history and values.

--Examine your spiritual involvement in the community. If you're already involved in a spiritual group, maybe you will want to take on a larger role - first for you, then as a model for your children. If you haven't joined a community, you may want to investigate those in your area.

--Recall your feelings at childbirth or adoption. "Many parents report that the closest they ever felt to the divine was at the birth or adoption of a child," Dr. Hassink reports. Try to get back to that moment in your mind, remembering the hopes and dreams you had. It can be the start of a search for similar or related feelings in your everyday life.

--Share some silence with your children. Take a few minutes for silent meditation alone or with your children. Think about your parenthood, your life as an individual, and your place in the larger scheme of the world. Spend time discussing these thoughts with your children and listen to their ideas on what spirituality means to them.

--Take a nature walk. Nature has long been an inspiration and spiritual guide. A walk will relax you and allow you to contemplate the wonders of the world around you.

--Read books that express spiritual ideas with your children and share your thoughts about what you're reading.

Making a spiritual journey may help you and your family live a healthier life, both emotionally and physically.



-- (cin@cin.cin), April 08, 2001

Answers

I actually divorced my husband because of his deep spirituality.This manifest itself in welcoming ghosts into the living room and in drinking rather alot of vodka in secret.

-- Chris (enquiries@griffenmill.com), April 09, 2001.

It's amazing how often seeing spirits and drinking spirits go hand in hand!

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), April 09, 2001.

Thanks cin

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 09, 2001.

Great piece, Cin.

--Share some silence with your children. Take a few minutes for silent meditation alone or with your children. Think about your parenthood, your life as an individual, and your place in the larger scheme of the world. Spend time discussing these thoughts with your children and listen to their ideas on what spirituality means to them.

I don't have kids, but if I did, the above is how, in part, I would deal with the issue of spirituality with them. Nurture their own curiosity, not limit their horizons.

The practice of meditation is, by and large, a nonsectarian, non- religious pursuit. Athiests and agnostics can embrace meditation in one form or another without disavowing their beliefs.

The variety of meditation techniques available today are seemingly endless. The chunks of time required to be devoted to the practice range from mere seconds to many hours. The benefits to the practitioner reveal themselves in short shrift.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), April 09, 2001.


I thought about this throughout the day yesterday and talked to my daughter about meditation last night. She told me she knew about it by reading a book left by her older sister. She surprised me by saying that she had been practicing since she read that book. Made me smile. Thanks again cin.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 10, 2001.


Maria you're welcome. =)

-- (cin@cin.cin), April 10, 2001.

Chris, what happened to "for better or for worse"?

-- (vows before God@are.sacred), April 10, 2001.

Sacred Vows

-- (something@for.everyone), April 10, 2001.

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