Scientists: Spiritual kids are healthier kids
Researchers say youngsters with love of nature or religion are fitter
Scottish teenagers who are spiritual are healthier, according to an international study.
Secondary school pupils who confessed to having a spiritual or religious aspect to their lives were less prone to ailments, real or imagined.
More than 26,000 children aged from 11 to 15 in Scotland, England and Canada, were surveyed.
They were asked about their general health, and any illnesses they suffered from, and their connection to other people, nature and religion.
Among Scottish teenage girls the most spiritual were more than twice as likely to report excellent health.
Scots boys were the most spiritual males, but like the rest of their sex, it had less impact on their health status.
The study’s co- author Dr Jo Inchley, of St Andrews University, said: “There is emerging evidence that people having a spiritual aspect can be advantageous within the medical sphere. Certainly we see that with young people – it can be protective in some sense.
“We know a sense of connectedness is very important for young people’s health and development.
“We are trying to understand why that might be. One potential reason for these positive effects on health and well being is that people have a longer term perspective, or they consider themselves within a wider social context, so they are more aware of the impact of their behaviour on themselves and others, and the world around them – that would include nature.”
The study was carried out in 2013– 2014 among 26,701 pupils in three countries. The youngsters were asked how important connections with self, their friends, families and strangers, nature, and religion were.
They were asked about how often they felt ill, their moods, and sleeping habits. The authors of the study, published in the International Journal of Public Health, added the higher “the importance of spiritual health,” the more likely children are to be healthier.
Researchers found: “Girls in Scotland who report that a connection to nature is important are also nearly three times more likely to report low psychosomatic symptoms than their peers who did not report it as being important.”
Britain is becoming an increasingly godless society, with more than half of the population now describing themselves as having “no religion”, new figures reveal.
The proportion of non-believers is at a record high of 53%, up from 31% in 1983, according to the National Centre for Social Research’s British social attitudes survey.