Headline Telegraph: The secret of long life… go to church

A 12-year study tracking mortality rates of more than 550 adults over the age of 65 found that those who attend services at least once a week were 35 per cent more likely to live longer than those who never attended church….

The researchers found that among individuals who reported never attending religious services, the risk of death over the 12-year period was 52 per cent.

By contrast, the risk of death of those who attended church services more than once a week was 17 per cent over the same period….

Although the researchers acknowledged that regular churchgoers could lead more abstemious lives, they insisted that they had factored these variants into the study by examining a control group of equally healthy non-believers. The variation, they said, had made no appreciable difference.

"It is possible that more frequent religious attenders may have engaged in better health behaviours, such as exercise or lower dietary fat intake," the researchers wrote.

"The present data included a limited assessment of health behaviours such as smoking, sleep, alcohol intake, cigarette use and obesity.

"This is the first study of which we are aware to find support for the hypothesis that more frequent religious attendance in a population-based sample of older adults is associated with lower mortality."

So, I wonder how long an active, lean church-going woman can live?