Gallop has an interesting poll out that finds religious people who attend services regularly tend to live healthy lives. From the poll:
Very religious Americans are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are moderately religious or nonreligious. The most religious Americans score a 66.3 on the Gallup-Healthways Healthy Behavior Index compared with 60.6 among those who are moderately religious and 58.3 for the nonreligious. This relationship, based on an analysis of more than 550,000 interviews, is statistically significant after controlling for major demographic and regional variables...
Very religious Americans make healthier choices than their moderately religious and nonreligious counterparts across all four of the Healthy Behavior Index metrics, including smoking, healthy eating, and regular exercise. Smoking is one area of particular differentiation between the very religious and less religious Americans, with the nonreligious 85% more likely to be smokers than those who are very religious.
That makes sense. Less smoking, less drinking, (probably) less promiscuity (they should measure that in wellness samples), perhaps less stress. We are told often, that such factors spell h.e.a.l.t.h. Can we all say, Hallelujah?
