Prayer and health

CNN Health

Prayer can reduce feelings of isolation, anxiety and fear as well.

A 2009 study on the effects of prayer on depression and anxiety found that members of a group had lower rates of depression and anxiety and were more optimistic after sessions in which they prayed for one another, compared to the control group (which had no prayer sessions).

Most findings on the health benefits of prayer have been from studies in which people prayed in groups (intercessory prayer). “There are strong associations between religiosity and both health and happiness, but they are only predicted by service attendance,” Bremner said.

Social support and the amelioration of loneliness could be the mechanisms responsible for the benefits of intercessory prayer, Masters said.

(https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/17/health/benefits-of-prayer-wellnes)

APS

(Association for Psychological Science)

Dr. Rosmarin says that the research that has been done on prayer shows it may have similar benefits to meditation: It can calm your nervous system, shutting down your fight or flight response. It can make you less reactive to negative emotions and less angry.

Some scientists who study prayer believe that people who pray are benefiting from a feeling of emotional support.

Prayer can also help your marriage, according to several studies at Florida State University, in Tallahassee.

Researchers there have found that when people pray for the well-being of their spouse when they feel a negative emotion in the marriage, both partners—the one doing the praying and the one being prayed for—report greater relationship satisfaction.

(https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/the-science-of-prayer-2.html)

Psychology Today

Prayer, like meditation, influences our state of mind, which, in turn, influences our "state of body". It reduces the experience of anxiety, elevates a depressed mood, lowers blood pressure, stabilizes sleep patterns and impacts autonomic functions like digestion and breathing.

Further, in influencing our state of body-mind, prayer and meditation also influence our thinking. This prompts a shift in the habits of the mind, and, subsequently, patterns of behavior.

These changes, in turn and over time, induce changes in the brain, further influencing our subjective and objective experience of the world and how we participate in it.

Broadview

There’s more good news. Various studies have demonstrated that prayer helps us manage anxiety and depression, boosts the immune system, enhances our capacity to absorb and maintain information, makes us more open to new ideas and increases our pain tolerance.

(https://broadview.org/prayer-brain-research/)

Westmont

“How God Changes Our Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist” isn’t an explicitly Christian book. One of the authors, Dr. Andrew Newberg, says, “Many of you are wondering, do I believe in God?

I’m not even sure God exists. My associate, Mark Waldman, doesn’t believe God exists at all. I’m not sure. But what we can prove to you is that believing that God exists is fundamentally good for you as a human being.”

Newberg identified several things he discovered about the effect of religious contemplation on the human brain. First, engaging in 12 minutes of personal reflection and prayer each day makes a profound impact on our brain.

It strengthens a unique neural circuit that specifically enhances our social awareness and empathy and helps us love our neighbor by developing a heightened sense of compassion and subduing negative emotions.

What is one of the most destructive feelings? Anger. What does anger do? It isolates us from other people. It cuts us off. It destroys community as we retract within ourselves.

(https://www.westmont.edu/how-faith-and-prayer-benefit-brain)

The Good: (Self & others)

(BEWERK) - Joh. 17

• God se eer, koninkryk en wil (Mat. 6:9-10)
• Goeie dinge (Mat. 7:11 - werk; geld; kos; ens.)
• Begeertes en dank (Fil. 4:6)
• Wysheid (Jak. 1:5)
• Vergifnis (Mat. 6:12)
• Beskerming (Psalms)
• Vrymoedigheid (Hand. 4:29)
• Seën (Num. 6:22-26)
• Tale & lofprysing (1 Kor. 14:14, 18)
• Rustige & stil lewe (1 Tim. 2:1-2)
• Heilige Gees (Luk. 11:13)