6 Empirically Proven Benefits of Spirituality

Increased social stressors have been linked to physiological problems like respiratory illnesses and increased risk for cardiovascular problems (Thoresen, 1999).

Theorists as early as William James have hypothesized that an individual’s spiritual practices can influence physiological as well as psychological wellbeing.

With so many links to immune system boosts and higher survival rates in heart surgery survivors, it is important to have a look at the proven benefits of spirituality.

Though the causality of spiritual influence in physiological wellbeing is more challenging to prove, there is ample evidence to highlight the benefits one might experience by having a spiritual practice.

Most studies are correlational. However, most are also empirically proven across religions. Most people would agree that they don’t need experiential evidence to intuit that spirituality will help them have higher rates of overall wellbeing and life satisfaction.

A meta-analysis of over 40 independent samples reported that religious involvement is significantly and positively associated with longevity (McCullough, Hoyt, Larson, Koenig, & Thoresen, 2000). People live longer, have more satisfying, meaningful lives, and have lower rates of depressive states.

Though more studies need to be done to explore the mechanisms by which spirituality improves wellbeing, the studies that already exist indicate they’re at the very least related.

A study on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction showed improvement in overall life satisfaction and physical and mental health (Greeson et al., 2011).

Through participation in a meditation program, increases in spirituality lowered instances of depression. By becoming more mindful, a correlation with Gestalt psychology was noted, as a basis for reducing depressive thoughts in real time.

Several studies have shown an increase in job satisfaction with an increase in spirituality in the workplace (Akbari & Hossaini, 2018). How people explain their work matters in building a sense of honesty and connection to their jobs. By building interconnective experiences into a workplace, people will be more productive and have greater satisfaction in their work.

Levels of depression have risen in recent years, and pharmaceuticals have not had great success in eliminating the problem. A specific form of prayer that is said to have a healing effect on depressive symptoms is meditative/centering prayer (Johnson, 2018). The process used in treatment for this study is called Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, which was developed by Dr. Zindel Segal.