If you haven't been going to church, you may have been cutting years off your life, according to a new study by UC Berkeley researchers and state health officials.
In the study authored primarily by Doug Oman, lecturer at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, researchers have positively linked weekly church attendance with reduced mortality rates and health risks.
"Hopefully the study can call attention to this emerging field of spirituality and health," Oman said. "Religion is so important to so many people around the world, and it will be interesting to look at the connections faith has to health."
Using data collected over a period of 31 years and involving 6,545 adults in Alameda County, non-churchgoers were found to have a 21 percent greater overall risk of dying sooner compared to those who attend religious services at least once a week.
Even after controlling for potentially confounding variables, additional trends were noted, including a 66 percent greater risk of dying from respiratory diseases and a 99 percent greater risk with digestive diseases among those not attending religious services.
The study, which will be published in the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine later this week, could potentially stir up the nonbelieving community, but there is no word yet on whether local churches anticipate an increase in converts.
Just over half the participants in the study identified themselves as liberal Protestants, while members of non-Western religions made up only 0.8 percent of the group.
While Oman declined to disclose his religious affiliation, he emphasized that the research team was comprised of people from across the religious spectrum.
"Theoretically, the study seems sound," said Arnab Mukherjea, a graduate student in the School of Public Health. "It's hard to simply attribute longevity to church attendance, but I assume it has a lot to do with the social support network you see in most churches."
Others agreed that the study's results were due to the social benefits of churchgoing rather than churchgoing itself.
"As long as you're doing an activity you enjoy, it'll probably lead to a longer life," said UC Berkeley freshman Karthik Srinivasan.
The study still leaves room to speculate on whether supernatural forces are responsible for the findings. And it is not known if similar health benefits may be obtained from yoga or Buddhism, which don't require attendance at organized gatherings.
Could simply sitting in a pew for an hour a week add years to your life?
Coauthor William Strawbridge of the Public Health Institute says no and attributes the health benefits highlighted in the study to the networks within religious congregations.
"The church attendance aspect involves the interaction between people," he said. "Basically it's these relationships that are good for health."
Previous studies related to spirituality and health have acknowledged lower rates of stress, depression and anxiety among churchgoers.
Seventh-Day Adventists ran their own study using 27,514 participants, all of whom were members of the religious sect. Published in the book Live 10 Healthy Years Longer in 2000, this Christian sect's research also connects church attendance to longevity.
But Seventh-Day Adventists adhere to strict health principles. Their sect's rules of no smoking, no alcohol, drinking eight glasses of water a day and eating a largely vegetarian diet may have significantly skewed the study's results.
But perhaps those riveting sermons renew the immune system just as well.
The study is a wake-up call to those who have been sleeping in on Sundays, but some are hitting the snooze button anyway.
"Forget church," said Berkeley sophomore Eric Trumbauer. "Happy people live longer, and ignorance is bliss."