Holy Health: How Church Makes You Healthier and Happier (Paperback or Softback)

Who would have thought that church adds six to seven years to your life, on average? Whether it’s church, synagogue, mosque, or temple, literally thousands of scientific studies confirm that people who regularly attend worship services are more likely to live longer, have better physical health, better mental health, higher educational attainment, higher incomes, stronger marriages, stronger families, and/or a greater sense of meaning and purpose. They’re less likely to get heart disease, cancer, and a host of other ailments. They’re not as prone to depression, anxiety, suicide, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, or crime and delinquency. Their kids are more apt to be well adjusted and get better grades. And church lifts poor and minorities.

What is it about prayer and worship that so improve health, happiness, and longevity? There are actual physical effects within the brain, benefitting both mind and body. Peppered with inspiring stories of transformed lives, Holy Health presents the faith factor’s many pathways to better health and well-being, and how you can take full advantage.

It’s extraordinary that our secular universities popularly known for their hostility to religion are churning out study after study touting the benefits of religion. Holy Health distills key takeaways from hundreds of such studies as they relate to physical, mental, and societal health.

Holy Health makes clear that plummeting church attendance is fueling skyrocketing rates of depression, anxiety, and “deaths of despair.” The book is a rousing call to action to put a stop to the carnage.

In the book you’ll learn:

• Why churchgoers are less prone to heart attacks, autoimmune diseases, hypertension, and dying from Covid.

• How church lowers stress, depression, and anxiety.

• Why even nonreligious therapists and physicians recommend faith-based therapy to their patients.

• Why many atheist scientists choose to go to church, and why other atheists extol the benefits of religion. In fact, a prominent atheist famous for his criticism of religion now says it can be a good thing after all.

• Why churchgoers have less divorce, higher marital satisfaction, and better marital sexual intimacy.

• Why their children get better grades and are less prone to alcohol and drug use.

• How church helps the poor and disadvantaged.

• Whether watching online church services has health benefits, and whether being spiritual but not religious can improve health.

• How a supposed ghost prompted college test-takers to avoid cheating, and how an imaginary princess motivated grade-schoolers to not cheat.

There are four levels of happiness. Holy Health tells stories of people who’ve reached the highest levels. John went from being a self-serving unhappy manipulator into someone who considers others' welfare in all he does. Another man couldn’t make friends to save his life, but turned that all around. An eighteen-year-old finally overcame her depression and anorexia. They all had one thing in common.

You’ll also find out:

• The neurological and molecular science behind why church boosts health.

• Whether prayer really works. Scientists have put prayer to the test.

• What one commentator said is the most powerful civilizing force in all of human history.

• What a New York Department of Transportation worker told a man about to jump off a bridge, prompting him to reconsider.

• What regular activity reduces the likelihood to near zero that a person will ever commit suicide.

• How to get what’s essentially a mini-psychotherapy session for free.

Holy Health may be the mother of all self-help books. It powerfully makes the case that the single most effective thing anyone can do to boost their wellness is: go to church.

(Page count excluding references and index: 248)

Patrick Chisholm is a former columnist for The Christian Science Monitor whose articles also have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Baltimore Sun, San Francisco Chronicle, and other publications. He is a senior fellow with the Catholic Apologetics Institute of North America and board member of the Fatima Outreach Foundation.