Biology Of Belief

I 2TO3 Yearsof additionallife associated with regular churchattendance

S P E A KU P Morethan 85%o of cancerpatientswould not be offendedif their doctorsaskedthem abouttheirspiritual needs-but doctots don'task

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Science andreligionargueall the time,but theyincreasingly agreeon onething:a little spiritualitymay beveryg"ood for your health B Y J E F F R E YK T U G E R

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couldn't locatetheir pari etal lobe with a map and a compass.Forthe record,it's at the top ofyourhead-aft ofthe frontal lobe,fore ofthe occipitallobe, north of the temporallobe.What makesthe parietal lobe special is not where it lives but what it does-particularly concerning matters of faith. If you've ever prayed so hard that you've lost all senseof a larger world outside yourself, that's your parietal lobe at work. If you've ever meditated so deeply that you'd swearthe very boundariesof your body had dissolved,that's your parietal too.Thereareother regionsresponsible for making your brain the spiritual amusementpark it can be:your thalamus plays a role, as do your frontal lobes.But it's your parietal lobe-a central mass of tissuethat processessensoryinput-that may havethe most transporting effect. Needycreaturesthat we are,we put the brain'sspiritual centersto useall the time. We prayfor peace;we meditatefor serenity; we chantfor wealth.We travelto Lourdis in searchof a miracle;we go to Meccato show our devotion;we eatliallucinogenic mushroomsto attain transcendentvision and gatherin church basementsto achieve its soberopposite.But there is nothing we tz

pray-or chant or meditate-for more thanhealth. Health,by definition,is the sinequanon of everything else.Ifyou're dead,sirenity is academic.Sowe convinceourselvesthat while our medicine is strong and our doctors arewise, our prayersrnayheal us too. Here'swhat's surprising: a growing body of scientificevidencesuggeststhat faith may indeedbring us health.People who attend religious servicesdo have a lower risk of dying in any one year than people who don't attend. Peoplewho believe in a loving Godfarebetteraftera diagnosisof illnessthan peoplewho believein a punitive God.No lessa killer than AIDS will backoff at leasta bit when it's hitwith a double-barreled blastofbelief."Evenaccounting for medications,"saysDr. Gail Ironson,a professorofpsychiatryandpsychology at the Lrniversity of Miami who studiesHIV and religious belief, "spirituality predictsfor betterdiseasecontrol." It's hard not to be impressedby findings like that, but a skeptic will say there'snothing remarkable-much less spiritual-about them. You live longer if you go to church becauseyou're there for the cholesterol-screening drive and the visiting-nurseservice.Yoir viral loadgoes down when you include spirituality in your fight againstHIV becauseyour levels

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ArtistChristianNortheast trolls prayers the Internetscavenging left on blogs,in chatroomsand on messageboards.He illustrated someof themfor hisforthcoming book, Prayer Requested

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ofcortisol-a tress hoimone go down nrst,"Science doesn'tdealin supernatural explanations,"saysRichardStoan,profes sor ofbehavioral medicine at Columbia University MedicalCent€rand author of Bli d Faith: The Unholv Alidn(t aJ ReLigbn dndMedi.i,e "Religion and scienceaddress

94o/o shareol patientswhosaidit was perlectly a I iEht tor doctotsto ask thenj abourthe r relgous belets. P entyofdoctoGhavenoquaiie withlhis-though theyarc esssure howto ralsethe topic.Stil. they agrcethatif heath careprovide6 su€gestcompementarycareike acupuncturc to somepatienls,why not faithandp6yerto others?

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That'sundeniablytruc up to a point. Butit'salsot ethatourbrainsandbodies contain an awful lot ofspiritual wiring. Evenifthere's a scientificexplamtiotrfor every strand ofit, that doesnt mean we cant put it to powerlul use-And ifone of thoseusescanmakeus well,shouldn'tlve take advantageofit? "A la4e body of sci enceshowsa positiveihpact ofreligion on health," saysDL Andrew Newberg,a professor of radiology, psychology and religious studiesat the University ofPenn sylvaniaand co founderof PennsCenter for Spiritualiry and ihe Mind. 'The way the brain works is socompatiblewith reli gionandspirituality that w€'regoingto be enmeshedin borh fora longtime." It's All inYour Head way as any to descibe Newbelg's work of the pastrs years.Theauthoroffour books, including the soon.to-be'releasedfloD God ChangesYour Brain, he has looked more closely than most at how our spiritual data-processing centerworks,conducting varioustypesof brainscansonmorethan roo people,all ofthem in differentkinds of worshipful or contemplativestates.Over time, Newbergand his team have come to recognizejust which partsofthe brain light up during just which experiences. Wlrcn peopte engagein Fayea it's ihe frontal lobesthat take the lead,sincethey govern focus and conceniration.Duling veiy deeppEyer, the parietal lobe powe$ down, which is what allows us to experiencethat senseofhaving toosedour earihly moorings. The frontal lobes go quieter when worshippersare involved in the singular activity of speaking in tongues-which jibes nicely with the speakers'subjectiveexperiencethat they arenotin controlofwhat they'resaying. Pray and meditate enough and some changesin the brain becomepermanent. Long-term meditators-those with 15 years of practice or more-app€ar to have thicker {rontal lobes than nonmediiators. Peoplewho describethemselvesashighly

spiritual tendto exhibit an asynmetry in the thalamus- featulethat otherpeople candevelopafterjust eightweeksof train ing in meditation skills. "ft may be that somepeoptehavefundamentalasymme. trylinthe thatahusl to beginwith," Newberysays,'!nd that leadsthem down this path, which changesthe brain further" No matter vhat explains the shape ofthe bnin, it can pay dividends.Betterfunctioning fiontal lobeshelp boost mem ory. In one study, Newberg scanned the brains of people who complained of poor recall before they underwent meditation training,thenscannedthemagain after.As the lobesbulked up, memory improved. Faithand health olerlap in otherways too.Takefasting.Oneof the stallesof both traditional $ellness protocolsand tradi tional religious ritu:ls is the cleansing fast,which is said to purge toxins in the firct caseand pulge sins or serveother pi ous endsin the second.Thereare secular water fasts,teafastsand grapefruit fasts,to saynothing ofthe lemon, maple syrup and cayennepepper fast.lews fast on Yom Kip pur; Muslims observeRamadaniCatholics haveLen! Hindus give up food on r8 major holida)s. Done iight, these fasts may lead to a staieofclarity and eveneuphoria.This, in turn, can givepractitionerstheblissful sensethat whetherthegoalof lhe foodre. striciionis heaLthor spnitual insight, it's beingachieved.Mal'beit is,but there'salso chemicattegerdemainat work. The brain is a very energy intensive organ, one that requiresa lot of caloriesto keep running. when food intake is cut, th€ liver stepsinro the breach,produc ing glucoseand sending it throughout the body always making sure the brain gets a particularly generous helping. The liverl reservelastsonly about 24 hours, after which, cells begin breaking down the body'sfats and proteins essentially living offthe land. As this happens,the composition of the blood-including hormones, neurotransmitters and metabolic by'products changes.Throw this much loopy chemistry at a sensitivemachine like the blain and it's likely to go on the btink. "Thereare very real changesthat occui in the body very rapidly ihat might explain the clarity during fasting,"says Dr. Catherine Gordon, an endocrinolo gist at Childrens Hospitalin Boston."The brain is in a differeni state even during a short term fast." Biologically,thatt not

sood,but thelighLhe.dedsens€of Peace ;lbeitbriei that comeswith it reintorces the fast and rewards you for engaging in it all the same. How Powerlul 15 Pray€r?

call it an analgesic,t1d pain may actuallv eo away.?arkinsont diseasepatients who underwent a sham surgely that they were iold would boostthe low dopaminelevels responsible for their symptoms aciuallv e)tpeienceda dopaminebump Newberg descibes a cancer patietrt wbose tumo$ shrankwhenhe was givenan experimental drug. grewbackwhen he leamedthatihe druq was ine6ectivein otherpatientsand shJ;k aqainwhenhis doctoradministeied steile w;!er but saiditwas a morepowertul \,€nion ofthe medication.TheU.S Foodand Drus Administration ultimately declared the arug ineffective, and the patient died All thaimay be necessaiyfor the Placebo effect to kick in is for one part of the bain to take in datafrom the world and hand that i ormation offio anotherpait that controls "The brain a! a panicuiar bodily function. Daarsto beabletotargetthe pLaceboeffect in avarietyofwdys,"saysNewbeig.Theres of no science Drovinqthatthe rntercessjons otherswilhake youwell Butit5ulelvdoes no harm-and piobabty helps to know that p€oplearc praying for you.

lisious life that intersects most naturally with healthis ptayer'very senoustheolo_ qiansbelievein the powerofsoGll€d in' iercessorypraverto heal th€ sick and some verv serioussiientists haw looked atit too' with more than 6,ooopublish€dstudies on the topic iust since zooo.Someof them have bee; funded by groups like the lohn Templeto. Foundation-part of whote nissioDis !o searchfor overlapsof r€ligion and science-but others have come flom investiSatols moredrspassionate As lonqasoasr87r, FrancisGahon,the run behind zugenicsand fingerFinting reckonedthat monarchs should live longer than the rcst of us, sincemitiions of people Dray for the health of their King or Queen iveiy day.His researchshowedjust the opp;site-rc surprise, perhaPs,given the ich diet and extensive leisure that rcval families enjoy.An oft discussed1988study by cardiologist Randolph Byrd o{ SanftanciscoGeneralHospital found that heart pa_ tients who weie Dravedfor faredbetter than those who were noi. But a larger studv in 2oocbv cardioloqistHerbertBensonatHar_ vari tiniversitichallenged that trnding. leporting that complicationsoccutredin 5r0o of hearrbypasspat'entswho recerved inte(essoryprayerand5ro/ooithose who djdnt. SloansaysevenattemptLngm nno a scientific basisfor a link between prayer "fool's eEand'-and for and healing is a the most basicmethodological reason lt s impossibleto know how rchF.yer'5re sinceyoudontknow ceived."be says."and that, you can t determine dose." Such exactiiude does not dissuade believeis-not surprising, given the centrality of pnyer to {aith. But there is one thing on which both camps agree when you'ie setting up your study, it matlers a ereat deal whether subjectsknow they're being prayed for. Give them even a hint as to whether theyle in the piayer group or a control group and the famed placeboeff€ct can blow your data to bits. li$t describedin the medical literatll]e in the r78os,the Placeboeffect car work all manner of cuntive magic against all mannei of ills. Give a patient a sugar pill but rrMEFebruaryrl,,oo9

in a cureleadsto rea Believing bodilych:nges.Thebra n opens opialereceptorcIn response0 t!ux pa n pils. booslsdopamLne in responseto shamParkinsons su€eryandevenprodstumorsto s h n k i l a P a t e n t h a s f a i ti hn a n

Faith and LonSevily PILI CAN BE SO POWIR

fu], belief in God and the teachingsof religion-which touch devout people at a fd more profound level thar mere pharmacology-ought to be even more s o . O n ew a y t o t € s t t h i s i s s i m p l yt o s l u d y the healrh ofregular churchgoers.Social demographer Robert Hummer of the Uni veEiw ofTexashas beenfollowing a popu lationofsubiectssinceI99,,andhis rcsults arc had to arguewith. Thosewho never at tend reiigio; serviceshave twice the risk o fd y i n s o ! e r t h e n e x t € i g h t y e a r s a s p e o p l e who aitend oncea week ?eoPl€who fa somewherebetween no churchgoing and weekly churchgoing also fall somewhere between in terms o{ mortality A similar analysis bY Daniel Hall, an Episcopalpriest and a surgeonat the Univ;rsitt o{ ?ittsburgh MedrcalCenter' found that chuch attendanceaccountsfor two to three additionalyearsofiife. To be sure. he also found that exerciseaccounts for three to five extE yearsand statin ther_ apy for,.5 to 3.5.Still.joiringa flock and livins lonserdo aDDeartobeljnked havent teasedout allthe ln;esti"gators work in this phenomenon, but at vadables Hummet for one, sayssome of the {actois "Peopieembeddedin rcli ale no surprise

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[4ed]cine and religion slrare at least oie trait-both can beseen as responses to the prospe.tor d e a t h .B u t w h € s c e n c e i s q u e t on a possllrle afterLl€. re gious praclic€s are shap€d lrvthe I coicepiion ol thal undiscovercd

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"Itis the cenierot qiouscommunitiesare;iore likelvto relv Schoolof?ublic Health ' life ;n one another for friendshiP,support, s o r r i i u a l , . o m m u n r ta) n d P o l i t i c a l G r c n l h ee e n e n l l !h r s h e r i n c i d e n c e o f ridesto doctols aPpointments ii{estyle Bnt even hard scientists concede obesitv.hy!;tcnsion and other church the ils an;n;ifiicanArneri.ans, that those thinqs arent th€ whole story i s i n a D o w e f u l p o s i t i o n i o d o a l o tg oo f od. other of and that thereta constellation a Mirci CanpbclL, reqos, Professor vaiables that are far harder to measure Inthe "Retjgiousbelief is not just a mind ques- of nutrition at the Universitvof r.'orthCar yeartrial called rion but involves the commrtment oi olina,help€dlaunchafour United Churches Black North Carolina one'sbody as welt," saysTed Kaptchuk projectsignedup The Health io foi Bett€r Medi Harvard a professo;of medicineat "The sensorvorgans'tastes' chuicheswilh a goalof helpingthe '],too cal School. b e t t e r .e x e r . i s em o r e smells, sounds,music the architecture o a r i s h r o n e i se r t their fitness The rmprove ind inrclvedl senerally lutt of religiousbuildings lare r n c l u d e dh J ! i n g p a s t o r s a st h e v e r v a c to f c o m i n gr n t o a h o s p r t a l m e a s r e st a k e n and get sermons in their health exposesa;atienttosight5"nd smellcthat lreach foodsat healthier to serve iing chu(hes ano Dooy prime bra'n the are thousht to for heatiig, soriraythe actofwalking inro The Drosramwas so successfulthat it Bodv and Soul proj Neal Krause,tsociolosist and public- has bee; reiamed the nationally-comPlete out iolled and ect health expert at the Univerity ofMichl pan, has t €d to quantify som€ot those with liteEture, DVDsand cookbooks-in the National Cancer ;ore amorphousvariablesin a longitudi collaborationwith Cancer So_ American and the naLstudv oi r,5oopeoplethat he hasbeen Institute that the conclude who To skeplics cietv. focused has conductine since 1997 He rote in played a secondarv pa*icularly on how regularchurchSo€6 chuicheshave the of the success Program weaihe! €(onomic downru and healthwoesthat go along venue for secular health counselrng the slresses that in her studies' with them. Not surp singly, he has found Campbellpoinis out pitches camenot liom effective most the re that parishionersbenefit when they pulpi!. "The th€ from but nutritionists the church' tuom their ceive social support connectionwas But he has also found that those people bodv is a temple,and lhe physical bodl and reli the madebetween those who sive hel! fare even better than well being."sh€sa,vs spiritual giousand apillarofreligiousbeliefif whoreceiveii ever there was one-He has also found that ,oinint Hands DeoDlewho maintain a senseof gntitude O L O C I A N SW H O a in theitliles}lave going right ior;hat\ a systemin advocate matters these reducedincidenceofdepression,whrch rs study are medicalcaie pastoraland vhiahboth in another itsetf a predictor of health. And grv' If a woman whole. studv he conductedthat was jusi accepted offeredasDartsofa canceris alreadv for publication, he found that people who en a dias;osis ofbreast oncolosist,a psvofan offered the services long live meanins heli;ve their lives have 'That's one of c h o l o e i sat n d a r e c o n s t t u c t r l seu r g e o n er than DeoDlewho don't h e r d o c t o r d i s c u sh se rr e l i the purp;rted reasonsfor religion," Kiause \ h v s - h o u l dtn 'Thesign on the doorsavs,'Comein siousneedswith her and includ€apastor says. "' in themixif thatwouldhelp? herc and you ll find meaning Whrl€ chur.hes are grol rng rnLreasAftican Americanchu(hes havebeen r n g l yw i l l i n g t o a c c e Ptth q o o d t h e ( o n n e c ' esD€crall! atmaximizing and nospna$tion betweenfarth and health Earlierin heahh.care€xpetts doctors o u t t h e h e l po t s e c k t o s l o w e r h a v e b e e n the only Americanhistoiy,churcheswere rhe fear has long counselors. frce' sDiritual hadthe institutionsAmericanblacks arent interestedinask dom to establishand runthemselves'and b;en thai patients s p i r i t u a l l yi n t i m a t eq u e s t r o n s i n e s u c h in the € m bedded the! thut becamedeepLy "The and the docto fortheir black church is a different ofiheirddtors. ruliure. answeiing uncomfortable be part. would institution than the synagogueor mosque not to be tlue, out tums But this them. Res' Ken says or evetr the white church," of lnKrisleller nicow a professor of health and behavior When psychologistlean a survey conducled universitv state diana educaiio; at the Univercitv of Michigan

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