How to Heal Your Life and Your Health Through Prayer
Prayer has a deeply personal meaning for people around the world. It is a sacred moment of connection between ourselves and whatever word we might use to describe our higher power. The act of prayer is present in religious practices around the world. It can be formal or informal, and it varies depending upon a person’s background, religion, and unique spiritual beliefs. Regardless of your religious faith, the basic principle of prayer stems from the belief in a higher power greater than oneself.
Here to stay
Prayer isn’t going away anytime soon, surveys say. A poll conducted by Tearfund found that roughly half of adults in the United Kingdom pray. Across the pond, polls in the United States suggest that 55% of adults pray daily. Nearly 90% of people with serious illness admit to praying to God or a higher power to heal their bodies and alleviate their suffering, says the University of Minnesota.
What’s even more amazing than these numbers, however, is the fact that many recent scientific studies have shown evidence that the power of prayer actually does work to heal your body, mind, and soul. In addition, studies have shown that prayer provides a sense of purpose, boosts wellbeing and fulfillment, and has a variety of positive health benefits to the human body.
Physical benefits
Prayer has several calming and relaxing properties. By engaging with our higher power, and by letting go of our problems and fears by turning them over to our higher power, we are able to naturally lower our stress levels. Scientists believe reduced stress levels are key to lowering blood pressure, reducing adrenal fatigue and inflammation, preventing autoimmune disorders, boosting the immune system, and a variety of other health benefits. If you are a leader or a manager, it is especially important to relieve stress in a positive manner, perhaps by combining prayer with some of the techniques suggested by Zenbusiness, such as walking to relieve stress and taking “mental health days” to restore emotional equilibrium.
Emotional and mental benefits
In addition to the physical benefits, prayer and religion also offer some key emotional and mental health benefits as well. First, prayer creates what scientists call a “placebo effect” where our hopes and expectations are positively enhanced, boosting our overall health and well-being. Prayer also releases our need to have a sense of control over our environment, allowing us to relax into the blissful state of true healing. As this happens, our brains release positive hormones and we experience happier mental and emotional states. As we begin to feel uplifted and reach a naturally calm state, our bodies stop releasing the stress hormone cortisol, reducing the negative impacts of stress on our immune system. This promotes true healing throughout our bodies.
Healing your life
It’s no wonder that the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health has discovered that prayer is the second most common method of pain management, after oral pain medications (which can lead to addiction), and the most common drug-free method of pain management. Although more studies are still needed to determine the scientific links between prayer and overall health, there have been very positive initial results and many people are optimistic about the role that prayer plays in healing our lives--and our bodies.