Religion Is Good For Your Brain

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Sheila M. Elred writes in Discovery Magazine that a recent study has found that people at risk of depression were much less vulnerable if they identified as religious. Brain MRIs revealed that religious participants had thicker brain cortices than those who weren't as religious. 'One of the worst killers of brain cells is stress,' says Dr. Majid Fotuhi. 'Stress causes high levels of cortisol, and cortisol is toxic to the hippocampus. One way to reduce stress is through prayer. When you're praying and in the zone you feel a peace of mind and tranquility.' The reports concluded that a thicker cortex associated with a high importance of religion or spirituality may confer resilience to the development of depressive illness in individuals at high familial risk for major depression. The social element of attending religious services has also been linked to healthy brains. 'There's something magical about socializing,' says Fotuhi. 'It releases endorphins in the brain. It's hard to know whether it's through religion or a gathering of friends, but it improves brain health in the long term.'" (Read more, below.) "Listening to sermons and reading religious works like the Bible may also invoke a cognitive benefit. "You're exercising your higher cortical function, thinking about complex concepts that require some imagination," says Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health at Duke University and a professor of psychiatry. According to Koenig the benefits of devout religious practice, particularly involvement in a faith community and religious commitment, are that people cope better. "In general, they cope with stress better, they experience greater well-being because they have more hope, they're more optimistic, they experience less depression, less anxiety, and they commit suicide less often. They don't drink alcohol as much, they don't use drugs as much, they don't smoke cigarettes as much, and they have healthier lifestyles. They have stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure, probably better cardiovascular functioning, and probably a healthier hormonal environment physiologically—particularly with respect to cortisol and adrenaline And they live longer." So where does that leave non-believers? "Out of luck, I guess," Koenig jokes. "Actually, I would suspect that people doing the types of things like religious people do — socializing, doing similarly complex cognitive tasks, would have similar benefits. But it is interesting that religion provides that whole package of things that people can adopt and pursue over time." Dr Dan Blazer says the study is very interesting but is still exploratory and that spirituality may be a marker of something else, such as socioeconomic status. "It's hard to study these things," concludes Fotuhi . "It's why research has stayed away from them. But there does seem to be a strong link between spirituality and better brain health.""

Comments

Religion...

[Anonymous Coward]

A thinking person should investigate religion, but not necessarily buy into it.

Re:Religion...

[hoggoth]

But, as someone who was not indoctrinated in religion when I was young and impressionable, how do I determine which of the following ideas to believe and follow:

1) Organized religion
2) Unicorns
3) Astrology

From my point of view these all share equal likelihood of being true, have equally convincing evidence, and all have proponents. Not being totally facetious here, from inside the "group" this may seem obvious to you, but from outside it doesn't. Why Jesus? Why not Buddha? Why not Zeus? Why not Wicca? Why not Xenu? And if I decide all but one of these ideas are poppycock, then how does one of them stand the same test of scrutiny?

Re:Religion...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think whether religion is fantasy or not is what's being discussed. We all know that a teddy-bear is just a cloth bag with soft filler..."it's not real"...yet it comforts the child and helps her to develop normally.

I'm an atheist (and not socially inclined, to boot). I may be "right" about a bunch of stuff, but I'm not the happiest puppy in the pound.

Re:Religion...

[Ol Olsoc]

Another thing about religion is that it contains 84% of the worlds population. A critical mind wouldn't dismiss such an overwhelming (albeit declining) majority as totally worthless to the human condition.

All religions I know of are attempts by people to control things that they can't control. Imagine early multi-diety religions. Sun God, Rain God, Earth God, Fertility God, and more, but let us take the first few examples.

You are a farmer in a village, and you have an understanding that your crops need sun and rain to grow. As happens in nature, there are good years, and there are bad years. Some years, the crops come in well, others, not so good. You know the more sun, the better, and when it didn't rain much that one year, th eearth cracked and your village almost starved.

Humans have an amazing ability to find patterns. We can see cause and effect very well. Do this, and that happens. So we look for cause and effect - patterns - in everything.

So the farmer thinks of what he did differently during years of sufficient rainfall. Say it was a simple looking at a cloud, and hoping it drops water. And it does. Better hope that again!

But then it doesn't work the next time. So the farmer thinks he must have done something wrong. So he modifies his wishing method

Aound the time of changeover to more agricultural societies, wise people were able to remove themselves from subsistence farming and to dispense wisdom. Needless to say, people would seek wisdom in matters of having life turn out the way they wanted it to.

So the farmer goes to see the wise guy. The wise guy tells the farmer he needed to use a more powerful "hope" or supplication to the rain. Maybe it worked, and the wise guy is looked at as very wise, one hwo can control things, one who can make the rain fall. Then it doesn't one year. The wise guy decides that the farmer needs to show his appreciation for the rain, maybe to show the rain god that he has faith in it. So now he must do something to show that faith. Enter sacrifices. Some times they work, some times they don't. Eventually, you have people praying and sacrificing and worshipping many gods.

But something is missing. People die. They cease to exist after some time. Wouldn't it be great if a person could live forever? That would be the ultiimate control over natureReligion to the rescue. Now we have religions springing up where an entity in each person, a soul as it were, would transcend life on this earth, and by practicing the correct actions, this soul would go ot a wonderful place. If not, this soul would be tortured for eternity.

Then the old pattern recognition thing would kick in, and we would see different people following different patterns in order to achieve their reward for their soul. This is how we get different flavors of similar religions, where some are peaceful, some expect people to do good works here on earth, some the entrance test is simple acceptance, then you have it made, and some that encourage that you engage in violence, and that you are supposed to kill others as an entrance rite.

All based on the idea that you as a person can exercise control over things you cannot control.

All based on suspension of disbelief.

All of them based on "I am doing it correctly, you are not."

Re:Religion...

[TheGratefulNet]

moreso: if you look at the world's worth of religions and if you are able to remove yourself from your own religion, you should be able to see that each little group of people is asserting things that are quite opposite or in conflict with the other group's views.

we can go around the world and measure where water boils and freezes, and if we keep the altitude constant, the values all agree.

otoh, if you go around the world and ask about creation myths, you get different answers, and the people answering all seem to think THEIR view is correct and others are wrong.

that one thought experiment, alone, was enough to convince me that all relgions are made-up and no one has any clue at all what the true reality is.

some things don't have easy answers. its better (for me, at least) to admit that than to make up synthetic answers.

finally, there is the group control aspect of religion. aside from the 'sleep well at night' concept, there is a lot of the 'do as I tell you or you will be punished, and by a guy with a much bigger stick than I have!'.

none of that is really productive to the modern thinking mind.

Re:Religion...

[thegarbz]

Another thing about religion is that it contains 84% of the worlds population. A critical mind wouldn't dismiss such an overwhelming (albeit declining) majority as totally worthless to the human condition.

The person who discovered smoking causes cancer originally sat on the results of the study for more than a year to expand it's scope because he didn't believe something that the vast majority of the population does could be bad. I say it's quite the opposite. Believing that something has benefits purely because other people do it is a classic sign of a mind that is giving up freethinking making them a perfect candidate to actually follow a religion.

As for calling atheist gatherings religious, that only shows your grasp of the English language. There's no possible use of the word religious which may be invoked in a way that doesn't relate the belief in a deity or following a religion. You would do well to find yourself a different word.

"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[noblebeast]

The Discovery article makes it pretty clear towards the end that it is not religious belief, but religious activities, that are likely responsible for the cognitive benefits.

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[inasity_rules]

I am not sure we read the same article. Not to invoke an argument, but the TFA talks about listening to sermons and reading the bible. It even ends with '“My personal belief is that having a strong belief is key to getting the benefits,” Fotuhi said.'

Right or wrong, the article says what it says.. The fact that you missed this would suggest you may need to check your confirmation bias filters a bit.

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[Barsteward]

'“My personal belief is that having a strong belief is key to getting the benefits,” - a conclusion starting "my personal belief.." renders the study biased

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[inasity_rules]

I am not commenting on the correctness of the article, merely OP's interpretation.

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[lagomorpha2]

The Discovery article makes it pretty clear towards the end that it is not religious belief, but religious activities, that are likely responsible for the cognitive benefits.

So what you're saying is that social activity can give resistance to depression? Does Slashdot count or does one actually need to go outside? More research is needed.

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[noblebeast]

There is no evidence cited in the article suggest that religious belief is responsible for the effects. What you've quoted by Fotuhi is a belief that religious belief has those effects. Research has shown, however, that religious activities and "spirituality" have an effect. Koenig, one of the co-authors suggests that "people doing the types of things like religious people do -- socializing, doing similarly complex cognitive tasks, would have similar benefits." And that does seem to be the case, both with socializing, and with meditation (which arguably serves a function similar to prayer and/or "reading the bible").

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[inasity_rules]

And yet, here we are, posting on /. On a Saturday.

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[Thruen]

Actually, you're commenting on the OP's interpretation of the article author's interpretation. The study says exactly what OP says it does, that religious activity reduces stress filters, the author's personal opinion is given to create bias and it appears to have worked on you.

It's my personal belief that it has nothing to do with how strongly you believe in any particular religion, and you'd likely see the same benefits from taking time to reflect on your own or discussing matters with supportive friends and family. You can feel free to try to correct my interpretation, as long as you understand it's only your own opinion and possible that of the author against mine, this study does nothing to prove either of us wrong.

Any time I read something saying religion is good or bad in any way, I take it with a grain of salt. There doesn't seem to be anyone studying religion who doesn't have a desired outcome going into it.

That said, this article seems a bit silly, all they're really saying is that people need a release, something anyone alive today can tell you. For some, that release is religion, for others it could be anything. This is not news.

Re:"Religious Activities" not Religion per se

[hoggoth]

Organized religion is a package of beliefs and behaviors that have been honed over tens of thousands of years to provide people with things they need both psychologically and socially. Until recently religious behavior couldn't really have been separated from the rest of tradition and society. It was one "package". Having all of these things wrapped up in one package makes it easier to teach and train people to follow good ideas, like "don't eat food that spoils quickly" and "don't spread STDs with promiscuous sex". Now that we have better understand of which behaviors are helpful we may not need all of the extra baggage that traditionally came with religion. But where is the new "package" of useful behaviors to replace the old ones? Often if you discard religious tradition you also discard good guidelines for living, and instead rely on random trends or worse profit-motive marketing for your guidelines.

I suspect religious people will get angry at this line of reasoning, thinking I am missing the entire "point" of religion. From one point of view I am discounting the whole purpose of their religion. But regardless of the supernatural truths of the universe, it is certainly true that religions carry a great deal of traditions and guidelines for living beyond the purely spiritual.

Re:No surprise

[amiga3D]

It's clear you have no understanding of religion. Everyone likes to focus on the nutcases running around foaming at the mouth. Any group has a percentage of these people who are unhinged. Many people who attend church do not, in my opinion, truly believe in a God. Many are there for the social aspects of it. A lot of people are there because it feels good to be around people of a like moral perspective. They like performing charitable works and helping others. It's a community. I've been to lots of churches and every single one of them had a different focus. Some are no more than glorified country clubs. The best ones though are the ones that have a strong faith that focuses on the soul. Not the ranting on and hatred of sinners but the love of others and the searching of ones own heart. Silly to you it may be but I know I've seen amazing changes in the lives of people for the better.

Sensetional article

[devent]

Lisa Miller have a spiritual agenda.
Here is her TEDx talk about love and stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Also this study is in contradiction with this study:
Being Religious or Spiritual Is Linked With Getting More Depressed
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u...

From Lisa Miller:
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.co...
"We previously reported a 90% decreased risk in major depression, assessed prospectively, in adult offspring of depressed probands who reported that religion or spirituality was highly important to them."

From Being Religious or Spiritual Is Linked With Getting More Depressed
"A key finding of the study, conducted in several different counties, is that a spiritual life view predisposed to major depression, especially significantly in the UK, where spiritual participants were nearly three times more likely to experience an episode of depression than the secular group."

Lisa Miller have first to explain this contradiction. Maybe some people get cortical thickness from religion, and some don't. I don't have access to Lisa's article.

So what do you do...

[acroyear]

...when it is religion itself that is causing you stress?

Re:No surprise

[Anonymous Coward]

her "charity" work consisted of gaining a fortune for her order, depriving people of pain medicine (she believed suffering made you closer to the sky fairy)

But for her when she had health problems, amazingly she went and got the best health care.

But for all the people she supposedly help all she did was give them a painful death.

If there was any "Sky fairy" she would have been damned to hell forever.

Stress relief

[Stele]

One way to reduce stress is through prayer.

Sex and alcohol work pretty well too. And they are arguably a lot more fun.

Religious ignorance.

[geekmux]

Religion has found itself at the very root of many, many conflicts throughout our history, with religious wars raging on for hundreds of years. Countless lives have been lost due to this.

THAT is an activity we now want to call a anti-depressant?

And people have the gall to call atheists evil for lacking faith.

Nope. That's not the case.

[denzacar]

Not to invoke an argument, but the TFA talks about listening to sermons and reading the bible.

No. Here is what it says.

"Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health at Duke University and a professor of psychiatry"... author of "The Healing Power of Faith", "Faith and Mental Health"... "Listening to sermons and reading religious works like the Bible may also invoke a cognitive benefit, Koenig said."

I.e. Faith guy says maybe faith good for brain.

Also, that Discovery article is crap.
That "One recent study, published in December of 2013 in JAMA Psychiatry" - no it wasn't.
And which study does this sentence refer to? The supposed December 2013 JAMA one (actually published in February 2014) or the 2011 one?

And while a 2011 study found a shrinking of the hippocampus among people of certain religions, Koenig, a co-author of the study, points out that no one has replicated that work yet.

Cause, it either says that Koenig is a co-author of the JAMA study (which he isn't, but which is no made clear anywhere in the article which doesn't even name the study it discusses) and he disagrees with the data from the 2011 study...
OR, he is a co-author of 2011 study (which he was) which says that certain religious people have a shrinking hippocampus.
With which he disagrees as well, pointing out "no one has replicated that work yet".

Koenig is essentially saying "Fuck my study which shows how religion may actually be bad for your brain. Don't look at it. Nothing to see there. Not replicated. Bad study. Bad!"

Also, everything Koenig and that other guy who had nothing to do with the study (he apparently has not even read it) but they asked him to comment on it anyway, Dr. Majid Fotuhi, said about the social effect... pure bullshit.
From the actual study:

Importance of religion or spirituality, but not frequency of attendance, was associated with thicker cortices in the left and right parietal and occipital regions, the mesial frontal lobe of the right hemisphere, and the cuneus and precuneus in the left hemisphere, independent of familial risk.

Going to church does not matter. How much you THINK that religion or spirituality matter to you matters.

Re:No surprise

[gweihir]

You do know that "Mother" Theresa was quite screwed up and in some respects outright evil, right?

Re:Whatever

[arfonrg]

No, that's not what the article said. The calming effect of prayer (which you guys are claiming is equivalent to meditation) was just one aspect that they noted. Read the article before you get on your high horse.

Re:Whatever

[Phernost]

Believing in an unprovable comforting fantasy causes less stress than facing cruel harsh realty ... SHOCK!

A Religious and Formerly Depressed Person's View

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been a devout religious person for over thirty years, and I have been depressed for most of those years. I write into this moshpit of hate for anyone here who might struggle with depression. The religious beliefs of the people around you can uplift you, but they can just as easily degrade your situation until you are depressed. My father beat me from the age of 4 until the age of 13. He didn't do it because of religion, he beat me because I annoyed him and he wanted to shut me up. The religion he chose to line up with merely gave him a convenient excuse. I have had PTSD for most of my life, with verified uncontrollable physical symptoms and many health issues, and have lived most of my life in fear of others. Most of the time it feels like I have never been happy, that there is no point in my life that I could travel back in time to (were it possible) where I would feel a healthy sense of well-being.

I tried many religious disciplines to get rid of my health issues. They all failed.

Eventually I did find a therapy that worked, it's not religious at all. I'm approaching normal function in life, I'd say I'm depressed 2/3rds of the time. If you find that your medication isn't working like it used to and you have to increase the dose, understand that your mental health problem isn't caused by a Prozac deficiency in your diet. The drugs work by shutting off the message your body is trying to send. Your body makes you depressed to solve a stress problem. It's using depression so that you won't lose your reason. Any means of regularly obtaining a "mental reset" will honor the body's request, all the skilled relaxation therapies are just ways to do that. The "prayer" mentioned in the article is one of those relaxation methods, it is not your typical oh-shiat prayer (which believe me I've tried). It's a mantra that you recite over and over again, until it doesn't mean anything anymore, and you relax and get a mental reset.

And of course, my religion didn't forbid any of these kinds of therapies that helped me get well, but the prelates of my religion did, calling them infidelic, probably because I'd do them on the day I'm supposed to attend religious services, and no money would wind up in the plate. There are people who don't care about their fellow man but go to (or hold) religious services for instant credibility and to hook up with like-minded members of the opposite sex, if I just shocked you, I'm sorry. Religious services are not automatically a gathering of saints.

None of this has anything to do with whether you believe an invisible man in the sky is your friend, because any depressed person will tell you that you can have friends and still be depressed. And as to the question, "if he's so good and powerful, why didn't he fix your little problem", the notion of every religion is that such help is not automatically and freely given without condition. As it happened, I tried to follow the tenets of my religious faith, and as it happened I met someone in that faith who showed me this therapy, and as it happened I got better. So I could dare to say, "see, it works", but what's the point of that? I'm not going to say it's going to work for you, because I can't know that, especially because most of you have already insisted that it can't work, and so it's sure to not work for you, because you will see to it that it won't, so that you can be right, and miserable. Let's skip all that, you have the right to remain miserable, I'm not calling that into question.

But if you're bitter because you've tried the failed religious remedies that I've tried, just skip ahead to the skilled relaxation therapy. Then you can ponder your spirituality when you've got a better handle on your situation. If you are religious and are afraid your soul is in danger if you try yoga, meditation, self-hypnosis, etc., then the skilled relaxation method you want is called progressive muscle relaxation. It is religion-free, and you can still take your medicine.

Re:Whatever

[Wycliffe]

The point isn't just prayer/meditation. It's that religion combines a half dozen or so different
activities together that are good for your health. There are currently no non-religious avenues
that I know of that provide the complete package like religions do. Yes, you can meditate,
take philosophy classes, join a book club, try to find like minded people, start a supper club,
make a pact with people to take care of each other when sick, etc... but it's alot more work than
to just "accept" a religion and they do all the work for you. I know plenty of "non-religious"
people that are members of church just for the social and other benefits. There are even books
and articles written about the many benefits an atheist gets "for free" by joining a church.
I also know people who joined a church for the social and latter got sucked into the doctrine
or joined the church because "it was the first place I felt like I really belonged" People also
join gangs for the same reason but the point is, that sense of belonging is an important part
of the human psyche and is why many people are drawn to and stay with religion even if they
don't believe it.

irony

[Ol Olsoc]

Religion is good for your brain as long as some evil fuck doesn't decide to cut your head off because his religion tells him to cut your head off because of your religion.

Re:Whatever

[DavidD_CA]

There are numerous atheist / skeptic / non-religious groups that have all of the positive aspects of church and religion, minus the supernatural.

In Sacramento, our local groups have book clubs, pot lucks, volunteer highway cleanup and soup kitchen service, lectures and discussions, game nights, family-themed events and field trips, hikes, and even a knitting group. (www.SacFAN.org)

If you live in other areas, check out meetup.com for similar groups near you.

Re: Whatever

[canadian_right]

Divisive? If your neighbors were trying to teach everyone that children should dress in black and play on highways at night would you call it divisive to point that isn't a good idea?

All the benefits of religion can be had from secular means that don't encourage magical thinking, which has a long track record of having numerous bad side affects.

Re:Whatever

[Kingofearth]

I'm an atheist myself, but if you don't think there are real benefits from the community and support involved in group religious participation you're just as deluded as they are. My parents are involved with their church and I see a lot of benefits that they gain from it, in addition to the sense of hope and protection their "delusional" beliefs bring (which provide some value as well, regardless of their truth).

They have a community of people they've gotten to know fairly well over the years, some of whom they have become good friends with. They take part in numerous "extra-curricular" activities made available to them such as softball leagues, YMCA outings, book clubs, etc. One summer when there was lots of flooding a bunch of them helped put sandbags around people's houses. When I was moving apartments and had a 3-day gap between move-out and move-in, someone from their church let us borrow a large trailer for the week so we wouldn't have to rent a U-haul and deal with unloading it just to load it back up in a couple days.

Then there's the fact that they regularly get together with their fellow church-goers with the express intent of discussing deep topics. Things getting to the core of what makes them who they are. What the purpose of life is. Why things are they the way they are. Discussions of right and wrong. Although I really wish those discussions wouldn't be limited to biblical analysis and based off what I see as extremely flawed premises, at least they're discussing these significant topics. And even if they aren't discovering fundamental truths, there are big emotional and cognitive benefits to just having those discussions.

I really wish there were similar groups for the non-religious. Where we could meet weekly to discuss philosophy and the state of our existence. Get to know a group of people at a deep level, where it's encouraged to discuss our feelings, hopes, fears, and beliefs to get support and feedback. A community that will help each other out in hard times, and organize fun events for good times.

Re:Whatever

[Wycliffe]

You can do any of those things without all the associated religious nuttery involved.

It's hard to get the common group of values without religion and it's impossible to get the delusion of hope
without religion. The delusion of hope probably has a huge evolutionary value during times of hardship.
This may be why religion starts to fade anytime society becomes more prosperous. When you are
struggling to survive having a little extra hope that everything will turn out ok makes you more likely to
keep working towards the goal of surviving and also probably more likely to try to reproduce and protect
your offspring. Once you are no longer fighting to survive, the advantages of hanging on to superstitious
hope diminishes.