MSG-277

MSG- 277

Spirituality Can  Often  Protect

 Both

Physical as well as Psychic Health

What ?

Spirituality has been defined  as the  a belief in a power operating in the universe that is greater than oneself, a sense of interconnectedness with all living creatures, and an awareness of the purpose and meaning of life and the development of personal and  absolute values in order to find meaning, hope, comfort, and inner peace in one’s life

Characteristics:

Acts of compassion and selflessness, altruism, and the experience of inner peace are all characteristics of spirituality. Many a learned people  are increasingly  becoming interested in the role of spirituality in their health and health care. This may be because of dissatisfaction with the impersonal nature of our current medical system and the realization that medical science does not have answers to every question about health and wellness. Today, however, a growing number of studies reveal that spirituality may play a bigger role in the healing process of many known as well as unknown diseases than the medical community thought in the last centuries.

Spirituality Influence Health

Spiritual practices tend  to foster feelings of optimism and hope, promote healthy behavior, reduce feelings of depression and anxiety and encourage a sense of relaxation. By alleviating stressful feelings and promoting healing ones, spirituality can positively influence immune, cardiovascular (heart and blood vessels), hormonal, and nervous systems.

Many researchers believe that certain beliefs, attitudes, and practices associated with being a spiritual person who had faith in Allah, compassion toward others, a sense of inner peace, and were religious had a better chance of surviving for a long time than those who did not live with such belief systems.

Selected Spiritual Qualities

 Qualities like faith, hope, and forgiveness, and the use of social support and prayer seem to have a noticeable effect on health and healing.

• Faith: A person's most deeply held beliefs strongly influence his or her health. Some researchers believe that faith increases the body's resistance to stress.
• Hope: Without hope -- a positive attitude that a person assumes in the face of difficulty -- many people become depressed and prone to illness. In a 35 year clinical study of Harvard graduates, researchers found that those graduates who expressed hope and optimism lived longer and had fewer illnesses in their lifetime.
• Forgiveness: Willingness to forgive oneself, and others, and the feeling that one is forgiven by Allah, have beneficial health effects. Some researchers suggest that emotions like anger and resentment cause stress hormones to accumulate in the blood, and that forgiveness reduces this build up.
• Love and Social Support: A close network of family and friends that lends help and emotional support has been found to offer protection against many diseases. Researchers found  that the strong social support network helped protect large number of  population from heart disease.
• Prayer: The act of putting oneself in the presence of or conversing with a higher power has been used as a means of healing across all cultures throughout the ages. Researchers found that compared to those who were not prayed for, patients who were prayed for showed general improvements in the course of their illness, less complications, and even fewer deaths.