by Drew Parks
KU sophomore Sarah Taylor wakes up at 8:45 a.m. on Sundays for what she said helps her get through school.
Taylor, an engineering student, prepares herself to attend Lawrence Wesleyan Church’s 10 a.m. worship service. Taylor sings along with the worship songs and takes in the pastor’s sermon, while wearing a nice dress for warm weather. She said she always takes something away from the pastor’s message and wonders how the pastor talked about what he did because it was exactly what she needed to hear. Taylor thinks about how she appreciates the relief and peace she gains from going to church during and after the service.
“For me, going to church is such a boost for my mental health. It gives me that encouragement to get through school,” Taylor said. “School is hard, life is stressful, God is good.”
College students live stress-filled lives. Attending church can not only help reduce their stress, but also offer other health benefits. Although some college-age students stop attending church after high school (see graphic below), experts say that attending a church can provide different physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health benefits for anyone.
“I would guess church attendance for someone of faith would contribute to many good health parameters,” said Dr. Cary Savage, Director of the Center for Health Behavior Neuroscience at the KU Medical Center.
Savage said that some of those parameters would be lowered blood pressure and stress, which affect different areas of health.
ABC News’ Chief Health and Medical editor Dr. Richard Besser agreed with Savage. In his recent book “Tell Me the Truth, Doctor,” Besser wrote about different things that church services can do to give health benefits. Besser wrote about how the meditative nature of services can lower stress, how sermons can give a positive look on life for good emotional health, how sermons can talk about the importance of gratitude to help mental health and how confessions can relieve emotional burdens. Besser also encouraged nonreligious people to adopt some of the principles religious people have.
“Even if you aren’t religious, it’s worth embracing some philosophies espoused by many faith-based organizations that are good for your health and the health of others,” Besser said.
Other health experts agree with Savage and Besser that church attendance can cause health benefits. In the book “Handbook of Religion and Health,” authors Harold Koenig, Michael McCullough and David Larson conducted studies on the influence of religious involvement on health for Christians and Jews. The majority of the results found from the studies showed that religious involvement can have connections to happiness, higher self-esteem, greater social support, less anxiety, fewer psychotic tendencies and other positive effects for physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.
Taylor’s experiences from attending church goes along with the results and statements found from the health experts. Taylor said that she feels satisfied and encouraged after attending one of her church’s services.
“I don’t think there’s been a week that I’ve walked out and not been like, ‘That’s exactly what I needed to hear this week,’” Taylor said.
Other KU students who attend church services said that they also feel that going to church is healthy for them and gives them a time to relax.
“It’s one of the times, at least for me, during the week to kind of forget about the busyness of what I have going on and take a moment and feel some peace in my busy life,” KU junior Philip Anderson said.
Anderson has a part-time job in The Market inside the Kansas Union to add to his busy class schedule. Although his classes and job are important to him, going to the services at Christ Community Church reminds Anderson that there are more important things in life.
“I know that there is a bigger picture beyond my week of classes and my week at work, something more ultimate,” Anderson said. “Classes are important, but that’s not the most important thing.”
In a LifeWay Research study, researchers polled people ages 23-30 that regularly attended a Protestant church for at least a year in high school on whether they attended church or stopped attending church for at least a year between the ages of 18-22. When they replied, the researchers followed up by asking the reason/reasons of why they continued attending or stopped attending church.
