We face a number of stressors in our lives today. These ultimately take a toll on our productivity levels and work output. Further, it is infectious and can affect those around us. Hence, it reduces the overall health of the individual and their community. Thus, you should adopt a lifestyle that caters to both your mental and physical health. For instance, spirituality is an approach that encompasses both these realms.

Spirituality is not hard or time-consuming. Rather, it is a holistic healing method that targets your physical, emotional, and social health. Thus, the healthcare industry has begun to embrace ‘spiritual care’ as one of the tools to heal chronic illnesses. In other words, this is a form of service which complements conventional medication to cure ailments.

Rachel Ramen (MD), (founder of the commonweal retreat for people with cancer) describes this spiritual care. It helps, fixes, and serves, which represents three lenses of life, which are weakness, brokenness, and wholeness respectively.

Importance of Spirituality In Mental Health

The role of spirituality in healthcare is an active study field. To clarify, it is only recently that psychologists, psychiatrists, and physicians have been researching on this. These fall into three broad categories, namely coping, recovery, and mortality.

First, multiple observational studies correlate longevity with regular spiritual practice. For example, one such study points to lower levels of interleukin (IL)-6, which increases the incidence of diseases. These were half as much in those who went to church, in contrast to those who didn’t. By extension, spirituality strengthens coping mechanisms, social support, and strengthen personal values.

Second, spiritual practices can improve the toleration of stress and pain. Likewise, they inculcate feelings of hope and positivity. For instance, cancer patients with belief in a higher force or life purpose were happier and felt lesser subjective pain. Patients specifically cite that god or a higher power provides a loving force reassurance to their presence. Above all, they perceive death as not the end but a passage. Further, life would carry on through their children and descendants. In this manner, it helps cope with death and disease.

Third, these can enhance illness recovery. For instance, a study from 1995 finds that heart transplant patients with spiritual beliefs experience lower anxiety, self-doubt, and health concerns. Similarly, another study of the 1960s confirms the benefits of meditation to metabolism, brain wave activity, and heart and respiratory rates. Further, it creates a ‘relaxation response’ which treats a range of mental and physical ailments.

5 Benefits of Spirituality on General Health

Spiritual practices can improve your overall wellness and quality of life. It subsequently reduces the risk of diseases and illnesses. It specifically increases clarity, positivity, and solidarity. Moreover, it also provides physical benefits such as immune strength.

1. Restoration of Purpose and Meaning

There are a host of spirituality awakening tips that can uncover purpose in life. Among these, many recommend talking to a chaplain or confidante. These can help you come to terms with weak relationships, regrets, and losses. Subsequently, you uncover some of the core spiritual needs you may have been neglecting.

For instance, the needs of reason, direction, and self-worth tend to emerge. Further, you can track your psycho-spiritual progress through long-term sessions.

2. Establishment of Solidarity

Human beings are social animals. Thus, isolation and self-absorption are major risks to depression. For these reasons, organized religious practices, events, and community gatherings are significant to social support and mental health. In this manner, one of the little-known spirituality awakening tips is that group cohesion. This can elevate levels of happiness and purpose.

3. Depression Relief

Depression is a common form of mental illness links to prolonged and intense feelings of sadness, loss, or anger. This can interrupt your daily functioning and productivity. Further, patients with depression tend to reminisce about happier times of the past. Thus, they tend to connect this to emptiness and isolation in their current lives. To alleviate these feelings, spirituality provides an anchor to a greater force and life purpose. In this manner, it provides a ray of hope in times of hopelessness.

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4. Emotional Stress Management

Caregivers face immense emotional, mental, and financial stress. In the process, they often neglect their own wellness. In the face of such stress, it is easy to forget the reasons behind these efforts and sacrifices. Talking to an ally or journaling is a helpful reflective spiritual activity. It is only through such practices that the individual can continue caregiving in a sustainable manner.

5. Immune System Functioning

You may know of certain powerful immunity boosters in both Ayurvedic and mainstream medicine. However, Ayurveda and spirituality in combination can multiply such benefits. There are a number of easy and effective spirituality tips you can follow in everyday life. For instance, try meditation, prayers, or nature walks to naturally uplift your mood and boost immune functioning.

It is such daily practices that carry a long-term health impact. For example, deep prayers and meditation help to turn off your ‘fight or flight’ response, to active regeneration and rest instead. Similarly, your immune system supercharges and heals your body, irrespective of whether or not you have an actual illness. The anti-inflammatory compounds in the system also lower stress levels.

Takeaways

Spiritual fitness is crucial for both our mental and spiritual wellness. First, it can heal illnesses through longevity, stress, and pain tolerance. It can also enhance recovery rates. Secondly, it enables general health by providing us with meaning, solidarity, depression relief, and stress management. It can also boost immune system functioning, In summary, be sure to adopt a regular spiritual practice for overall health.

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