An Extraordinary Benefit of Spirituality

[Guest guest]

An Extraordinary Benefit of Spirituality

 

By Cathryn Conroy, Netscape News Editor

Spiritual people are actually able to better handle the

discomforts and limitations of chronic illness than those

who don't consider themselves spiritual, according to a

study by researchers at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins

University. Previous studies have indicated that people with

a strong religious faith or an optimistic personality live

longer and get well sooner, reports Reuters. But the Hopkins

study wanted to find out if there was a connection between

spirituality and the severity of disease. First, the

researchers defined spirituality this way: the capacity of

an individual to stand outside of his/her immediate sense of

time and place and to view life from a larger, more detached

perspective. Note that faith is not part of this broad

definition. Then they examined 77 rheumatoid arthritis

patients, all of whom were 30 or older and suffered from the

disease for at least two years.

What spirituality did not do: It did not reduce the pain of

arthritis, minimize the effects of the disease, or improve

mobility.

What spirituality did do: Spiritual people were happier and

felt better about their general health.