Spirituality and The Cardiac Patient

At some moment in life we or someone we love may find ourselves facing a life-threatening condition, such as a heart attack or heart disease. Or we may find that we have important decisions to make. When that happens, we seek out the best medical care and strive to face the crisis with confidence, courage and hope. And some of us will turn to our faith to give us the emotional support we need to get through the difficult days of being sick. Because there's more to physical healing than meets the eye—or the stethoscope. There is a spiritual element—elusive but important—that can have an important effect on health.

We instinctively feel that our faith helps us when we are ill. But recently, researchers have begun to explore whether there is a scientific correlation between spirituality and the physical recovery of patients. In the most surprising research findings emerging in this past decade, it has been found that spirituality can not only be an emotional support but can actually help in a patient's physical recovery.

Recent Research

• A 28-year California study, published in the summer of 2000, indicated the overall value of having a spiritual life by showing that people who went to weekly religious services had a one-third lower death rate over a given period of time than those who attended less often.
• A recent Duke University study of some 1,700 older adults provided data showing a possible physical reason for those lower death rates: It found that people who attended weekly religious services were only half as likely as non-attendees to have high levels of a protein linked to age-related diseases such as heart disease.
• Other studies have shown that prayer can be effective in decreasing heart rate, decreasing blood pressure and decreasing incidence of angina in cardiac patients.

This research supports what many of us have always believed: that having a spiritual dimension in our lives may help us get healthy when we are sick and stay healthy when we are well.

These remarkable findings encourage us to use our faith as an active part of our healing process. A strong spiritual life can also provide:

• Community Support so we can express anxieties and concerns within a caring group.
• Positive Beliefs that help us create a sense of meaning and purpose, particularly when we are faced with a life-threatening illness.
• Moments of Relaxation when we can use prayer and/or meditation.