New Report: Religious Participation Linked to Better Physical Health Across 15 Domains

Landmark review finds positive associations outnumber negative ones 7-to-1 in highest-quality studies; frequent churchgoers live up to 14 years longer

PROVO, Utah, June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report finds that improved physical health outcomes are overwhelmingly associated with religious beliefs, practices and participation in faith communities. These benefits range from lower cancer rates and stronger immune function to dramatically reduced substance abuse and significantly longer lifespans. 

The report, "The Religion and Physical Health Connection: What Does the Best Science Reveal?", is the second installment in the three-part Religion and Human Flourishing series by the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University. Synthesizing hundreds of studies from the 2024 Handbook of Religion and Health (3rd ed.), the report draws on the most comprehensive and methodologically discerning review of religion and health research to date. 

The report identifies 876 high-quality studies reporting beneficial associations between religious involvement and health outcomes compared with just 124 reporting adverse associations, reflecting an overall positive-to-negative ratio of approximately 7:1. 
The strongest positive relationships were observed in connection with: 

• Cigarette smoking (90:1 ratio): 98% of high-quality studies found that higher religiosity was linked with lower rates of smoking, which is the most pronounced positive ratio of any health outcome analyzed across the entire three-part series. 
• Substance abuse and addiction (43:1 ratio): 94% of the 271 highest-quality studies found that religion is correlated with lower rates of substance abuse and addiction. 
• Mortality and longevity (~15:1 ratio): 83% of high-quality studies reported positive correlations between higher religiosity and greater longevity. Across multiple recent large-scale U.S. studies, frequent religious attendance is associated with an average reduction in mortality risk of approximately 34%. 
  • In a nationally representative U.S. study of more than 20,000 adults, frequent religious attenders lived an average of 7.6 years longer than nonattenders. Among African American participants, this gap nearly doubled to 13.7 years, highlighting the particular significance of faith communities in populations facing persistent health disparities.
• Cerebrovascular disease (10:1 ratio): Approximately 91% of the most rigorous studies found that higher religiosity was associated with lower rates of stroke and related disorders. 
• Immune function and stress hormones (~8:1 ratio each): 87% and 86% of the most rigorous studies, respectively, found positive associations with immune function and healthier stress hormone levels. 

Additional positive associations were found across the remaining domains: healthier diet and weight (≈6:1), greater physical activity (≈6:1), lower rates of hypertension (≈5:1), lower rates of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (≈5:1), heart disease (≈4:1), cancer (≈4:1), chronic pain (≈4:1), physical disability (≈4:1), and disease prevention, detection, and compliance (≈2:1). 

"These are not fringe findings from a handful of studies — they reflect a consistent pattern across hundreds of the most rigorous investigations in the field," said Loren D. Marks, Professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University and lead author of the report. "The data indicate that religious involvement is one of the most robust predictors of better physical health outcomes available in the research literature, and it deserves far greater attention in public health conversations." 

The report also identifies that health benefits of religious involvement are not confined to a single denomination or country. Recent studies from China, Mexico, and the United States confirmed significantly lower mortality rates among highly religious populations across diverse cultural and political settings. One landmark UCLA study found that lower cancer mortality was replicated among physically active, nonsmoking weekly churchgoers of any denomination. 

Neuroscience research has revealed that the same neural reward circuits affected by opioids are also activated during religious experiences and devotional practices—a finding the Handbook authors suggest may carry significant implications for addiction treatment. Supporting this direction, a Harvard-based review of 27 studies concluded that religiously based twelve-step programs are more effective—and more cost-effective—than other established treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy for increasing abstinence. 

"After four decades of research and thousands of studies, the pattern is remarkably clear: religious involvement is associated with better physical health across virtually every domain we've examined," said author Harold Koenig." These are not isolated findings — they represent one of the most consistent relationships in all of health science." 
The full report is available at wheatley.byu.edu/religion-and-physical-health.

Series Context
"The Religion and Physical Health Connection: What Does the Best Science Reveal?" marks the second installment in the Wheatley Institute's Religion and Human Flourishing series. The first installment, "The Religion and Mental Health Connection: What Does the Best Science Reveal?", found that across nine mental health conditions, 961 high-quality studies reported positive correlations between religion and better mental health, while only 101 found negative correlations — a ratio of nearly 10:1. The third and final installment of the series, addressing religion and social health, is set to publish in late June 2026. 

About the Authors
Loren D. Marks is a Professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University and a Wheatley Institute Affiliate Scholar. Harold G. Koenig is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center and a leading authority on religion and health. They are joined by co-authors Shima B. Baughman, Jared R. Robbins, Paul W. Lambert, and Elijah L. Nevares. 

About the Wheatley Institute
The Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University engages students, scholars, thought leaders, and the public in research-supported work that fortifies the core institutions of the family, religion, and constitutional government. For more information, visit https://wheatley.byu.edu/.

SOURCE Wheatley Institute