Ritual

Spirituality helps lessen arthritic pain

Dr. Francis J. Keefe of Duke University Medical School in Durham, North Carolina and colleagues have published a paper in April issue of the Journal of pain. Patients who use religion or spirituality to cope with the chronic pain of rheumatoid arthritis can reduce their pain and boost their sense of well being, the researchers say. Dr. Francis says, "One might expect that people coping w...

Spirituality relieves stress

A meditation programme has proved useful in helping people deal with stress. There has been quite a bit of research showing that// meditation helps people improve both their physical and mental ill health. Researchers at West Virginia University in the US have been looking at how a meditation programme called 'mindfulness training' can help people who describe themselves as 'stresse...

Spiritual views aid after bereavement

A recent study shows that many people with firm spiritual beliefs find it easier to deal with a bereavement. Researchers in Texas have studied 120 relatives and friends of patients attending a hospice for terminal care. They looked at how the presence,// or absence, of strong spiritual beliefs helped these people cope when their loved one died. Those who had a strong spiritual belief...

Circumcision Ritual May Protect Men From AIDS

Male circumcision is likely to reduce the risk of contacting HIV from intercourse// with HIV infected women by about 70%. A recent study involved 3,000 HIV negative men in Africa between 18 and 24 years. Half were circumcised and other half were not circumcised. They were followed up for one year. Researchers found that for every ten uncircumcised men who became infected with HIV, o...

Drug Addiction Recovery Buffered by Spirituality

Scientists from National Development and Research Institutes, Inc (NDRI) in New York City and Chestnut Health System in Bloomington, Illinois explored the role// of social supports, spirituality, religiousness, life meaning, and 12-step participation in the process of recovery from addiction. The study reveals markedly improved life satisfaction as recovery progresses as well as a decreas...

Negative religious 'Spirituality' related to depression in physicians

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers revealed that residents who have negative religious and spiritual characteristics have higher risk for depressive symptoms.// The study was done by collection of data through surveys which said that the risk for significant depressive symptoms was greater among respondents who reported negative religious coping mechanisms, poorer spiritual well...

IMA against Spiritual Guru Baba Ramdev

The Indian Medical Association has been angered over Spiritual guru Baba Ramdev's views against allopathic medicine and medical practitioners//. IMA national president Ajay Kumar said he would mobilise doctors across India against Ramdev for ‘misguiding people’ about medical practitioners and allopathic medicine. Ramdev had reportedly alleged that medical practitioners were ex...

Spiritual Inclination Plays A Role In Fear Of Death For Elderly

A new University of Florida study has found that elderly people turn to God as they approach death. This is especially true if they were not spiritually inclined during their earlier days.// The study, which appears in the March issue of Research on Aging, says that talking about God may actually increase the fear of dying in such people. The study followed 103 relatively healthy older ad...

Spiritual Leaders Join Together to Fight Against HIV/AIDS in India

Chennai: Spiritual leaders, including Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Bishop Lawrence Pius Dorai Raj//, have come together to fight HIV/AIDS, stressing the need for preventive care for a disease that has hit five million Indians. They discussed HIV/AIDS care, giving the much-needed prophetic voice to the stigma and discrimination related to the disease. Many of them head groups that care for...

Doctors Must Consider Spiritual Needs of Their Patients: Study

The worlds of medicine and religion tread different paths due to obvious sensitive issues, yet authors of a recent study urge doctors to consider meeting// the religious and spiritual needs of their patients. This suggestion stems from a study carried out by Tracy Balboni of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Harvard Medical School and colleagues of the Dana -Farber Cancer Instit...

Spirituality Increases as Alcoholics Recover

For decades, recovering alcoholics and those who treat them have incorporated spirituality into the recovery process. But few research studies have documented// if and how spirituality changes during recovery, or how those changes might influence a person’s chance of succeeding in the quest for sobriety. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Addiction Researc...

Spirituality And Health

Can spirituality have a positive effect on someones physical health? This question is debated in several articles published in a supplement of the latest Medical Journal of Australia. Spirituality and Health reviews the current research on religion and spirituality in health, its relevance to Australian practitioners and patients, how it can be applied to clinical practice, and the...

Practicing Spirituality may Help Smokers to Quit

Unlike many traditional alcohol and drug dependence treatment programs, mainstream smoking cessation programs generally exclude spiritual practice and beliefs from the treatment process. But a study by Oregon Health & Science University Smoking Cessation Center researchers reveals many smokers are receptive to and may benefit from their own spiritual resources, when attempting to quit....