My flight was delayed.  I had been up since 6am pacific time, and it was now after 6pm central time.  As I sat in the gate area at the Dallas Fort-Worth airport, I realized that it would be nearly 10pm eastern time, by the time I got home.  Despite the long day, I was energized.  The flight delay just gave me more time to write and reflect on what I had just experienced.  

I was returning from a summit on Meaning, Purpose, and Spirituality in Lifestyle Medicine.  Yes, I know, that’s a mouthful.  Prior to the event, when people asked me where I was going, I either said it very slowly or just said that I was attending a conference on spirituality in health care.  

Talking to people on the plane about this summit, I could tell that they were intrigued by the topic, but not necessarily sure what it all meant.  I shared that there is definitive evidence that meaning, purpose, religion, and spirituality have a positive impact on health outcomes.  This may be surprising information for most people, so this summit was an important step forward in  advocating for awareness of the role of religion and spirituality in health care practice.  

For many people, meaning and purpose in life come from their practice of religion and spiritual engagement.  Unfortunately, however, there is a tendency to think of modern medicine and religion just like the separation of church and state.  Yet, a review of history reveals that much of modern medicine and healthcare is born from the efforts of the early Church, through the first facilities to care for the sick, typically run by monks and nuns.  These places ministered to the spiritual and physical needs of the sick cast aside by society, eventually becoming what we now call hospitals.  

Despite the early synergy of medicine and faith, today in medicine, many healthcare providers are uncomfortable talking with patients about spirituality and religion and some think it has no role in medicine.  Yet, it turns out that there is a lot of research on the beneficial effects of religious practice on health outcomes.  For example, research indicates that people who regularly attend religious services live longer (1).  Yep, that’s right:  Going to church could make you live longer.  

Why is that?  Well, this is where it gets interesting.  It turns out that those that actively practice their faith tend to be less likely to smoke, less likely to drink excessively, more likely to exercise and more likely to eat healthy (2).  While these behavioral factors are important for reducing risk factors of chronic disease, another aspect that contributes to this beneficial effect is the aspect of community.  

Faith communities provide important social support and close personal relationships.  One of the longest running studies of adult development, ongoing since 1938 at Harvard University, found some surprising findings: close social connections play a larger role in longevity and happiness than genetics, socioeconomic status, and education (3).  Yep, how long you live and how happy you are could partly be attributed to having close connections with others.

Church is often one of those places where we make strong social connections.  For those individuals who get actively involved, there is a sense that the relationships and ministry within the parish provides a sense of meaning and purpose.  You feel as though you are part of something bigger than yourself, a collective building up of God’s kingdom.  

Unfortunately, in the healthcare field, many practitioners are hesitant to incorporate questions about spirituality and religion into their conversations, despite the evidence that religious practice can improve health behaviors and that faith community has a positive impact.  Some practitioners worry that it’s not appropriate, but it can be an important part of how people deal with medical conditions.  For many people with chronic disease, cancer, or acute trauma, there is a dependence on religion and spirituality to cope with the reality and the unknowns, and it is a faith community that can often be counted on to support people through prayer, meals, and other forms of tangible support. 

So how do we increase the recognition that religion and spirituality have a place in the healthcare encounter?  We educate each other.  If you’re in a healthcare field, incorporate spiritual screening/assessment into your continuing education and clinical practice.  One popular tool is the FICA spiritual assessment tool (4), developed by a Catholic physician, Dr. Christina Puchalski.  

If you’re not in the healthcare field, you can still keep your faith in tune with your healthcare by advocating for yourself.  If you’re in the hospital, ask to see a chaplain or to be connected with pastoral care services.  If you’re in an outpatient appointment, be open to sharing how your faith helps you to cope or provides hope.  Your provider may or may not know how to honor your sharing of this information, but yet, if it is true to your experience and important to you, then it should be part of your medical and social history.

Those of us that attended the summit on Meaning, Purpose, & Spirituality in Lifestyle Medicine are working to change how people think about these topics and their role in our lives.  Lifestyle medicine began as a grassroots movement to change the emphasis of medical care from sick care to health care, shifting the emphasis toward using lifestyle intervention as the primary approach to prevention and treatment of chronic disease.  It only makes sense then, that as part of the grass-roots movement, we need to create awareness of the importance of religion and spirituality in our health is another aspect of person-centered whole person care.  What role does religion and spirituality play in your own health?  Perhaps it's a question that we should all consider…

By Michele Suhie, PhD, NBC-HWC, DipACLM

References:

1  Gillum RF, King DE, Obisesan TO, Koenig HG. Frequency of attendance at religious services and mortality in a U.S. national cohort. Ann Epidemiol. 2008 Feb;18(2):124-9. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2007.10.015. PMID: 18083539; PMCID: PMC2659561.  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2659561/ 

2 Chen Y, Kim ES, VanderWeele TJ. Religious-service attendance and subsequent health and well-being throughout adulthood: evidence from three prospective cohorts. Int J Epidemiol. 2021 Jan 23;49(6):2030-2040. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyaa120. PMID: 32793951; PMCID: PMC7825951.  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7825951/ 

3 Mineo L.  Harvard study, almost 80 years old, has proved that embracing community helps us live longer, and be happier.  Harvard Gazette. April 11, 2017.  https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/ 

4 Puchalski C.  FICA Spiritual Assessment Tool.  George Washington University Institute for Spirituality & Health (GWISH). 2025. https://gwish.smhs.gwu.edu/programs/transforming-practice-health-settings/clinical-fica-tool