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but only if you go frequently, or for many years.46 Studies have also found that regular attendance at religious activities will lower your blood pressure, but it may not be enough to lower one's risk of a heart attack or stroke. For example, in a large national survey, those who attended religious services weekly had blood pressures that were 1.46 millimeters lower than nonattendees, and those who went more than fifty-two times a year registered 3.03 mm. lower.47 For a person with a systolic pressure of 150, it doesn't reduce one's health risk if they lower it to 147. Of course, the optimist will argue that every little bit helps, and we would have to agree. But as skeptic and Claremont Graduate University professor Michael Shermer points out:

In several studies on the relationship between religiosity and mortality (religious people allegedly live longer), a number of religious variables were used, but only those with significant correlations were reported. Meanwhile, other studies using the same religiosity variables found different correlations and, of course, only reported those. The rest were filed away in the drawer of nonsignificant findings. When all variables are factored in together, religiosity and mortality show no relationship.48

Critics of religion will point to the vast amount of research showing that health improvements are only slightly above chance.49 But the fact that it has an effect at all is very important and should not be dismissed, as some researchers try to do. No matter how you want to interpret the findings, the evidence is clear that religious involvement has little down side and very often has a beneficial effect, especially when one feels positive about his or her religious beliefs. And sometimes the benefits are spectacular. For example, a national sampling found that those who go to church at least once a month have a 30 to 35 percent reduced risk of death.50 The numbers are equally consistent for Caucasians, African Americans, and Mexican Americans, and for older individuals religious activity is even more beneficial.51 Those who attend weekly are significantly less likely to have a stroke, but religious involvement didn't have an effect on diabetes or heart attacks.52 I suppose it is fair to say that God is good for your brain, but not necessarily your heart!

These, by the way, are long-term longitudinal studies following individuals for up to thirty years, and those who infrequently attended religious services had higher rates of death from circulatory, digestive, and respiratory disorders.53 In fact, the more you attend, the less you'll smoke,54 and it doesn't matter what religious denomination you are.55

Now, one can argue that the beneficial effects are attributable to any form of social group interaction, be it secular or religious. This is an important point because no one has yet been able to factor out other variables to see if religiousness itself improves health. But religions are, by their very nature, designed to touch upon every aspect of a person's life. Religious traditions encourage certain habits and discourage others. They provide social involvement as well as a sense of purpose and meaning, variables that are essential for everyone's psychological health.

But this does not mean that you should force reluctant individuals to attend religious services more often. In one of the few studies to examine the potential health risks of religion, university researchers Kenneth Pargament and Harold Koenig found that religious struggle—defined as people who feel that they are being punished by God, possessed by demons, or who experience religious and spiritual discontent—significantly shortened one's life span.56 Furthermore, if you find yourself ruminating on guilt and fear, or harboring negative attitudes toward God, clergy, and other church members, you will also be inclined toward poorer health and depression.57 People who have anger at God have more medical problems and poorer recovery rates from illnesses and hospitalization,58 and patients who struggle with religious