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Today, the women’s health conversation overwhelmingly focuses on the importance of physical health, clinical interventions, and access to healthcare. However, research suggests that optimal health, or true prosperity, requires a holistic approach that meets each person’s physical, mental, social and spiritual needs.
Neglecting even one of these four pillars of well-being hurts people, yet more than 90% of healthcare spending worldwide is spent on treating physical symptoms alone. Hospitals, procedural interventions and medical access help women survive, but they cannot make them grow.
Over the past two decades, a significant decline in spirituality in the United States and around the world has created a crisis that threatens women’s ability to achieve optimal health. To resolve the crisis of spiritual decline, we must first increase our awareness of the importance of our spiritual life and the ill effects of lacking it.
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About 85% of people now believe that mental health is as important as physical health. Similarly, many people rate their spiritual health—the ability to practice their religion both individually and within their communities—as “very” or “extremely important” to their well-being. It is a widely underserved health area and is rarely discussed.
Women, on the whole, are more religious than men, and as has always been the case, let’s put metaphysical and theological issues aside and think for a moment about empirical issues. For example, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, but active religious practice can reduce risk factors for fatal heart attacks.
Over the past two decades, a significant decline in spirituality in the United States and around the world has created a crisis that threatens women’s ability to achieve optimal health.
Spirituality also improves psychological and social health, thereby reducing feelings of loneliness and social isolation that can lead to increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and reducing the risk of coronary heart disease. mitigate.
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A study of older Americans also found that greater life purpose was associated with greater personal resilience, faster recovery from adversity, and reduced risk of stroke. was shown. This is a measurable and undeniable improvement in physical health, possibly achievable through spiritual care.
In just the past year, 1 in 5 women in the United States reported suffering from a mental health condition. However, research shows that people who lead an active spiritual life, including participation in a spiritual community, have lower stress levels, improved mental health, and reduced risk of suicide attempts. shown.
In addition, religious communities can help improve general health in areas of the world where healthcare infrastructure and communications are underdeveloped. In a country where few others directly reach out to those suffering from poverty, neglect, disease epidemics and even government collapse, religious communities have bridged the gap and their impact is lasting.
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Religious leaders also enjoy very high levels of trust from the communities in which they live and serve. In 34 African countries, religious leaders are more trusted than other public leaders, and this trend is not unique. Religious leaders have contributed to promoting better health outcomes in the past and can work together to do so in the future.
Despite overwhelming evidence that we should take our spiritual health seriously, we rarely do. Just as we once ignored the importance of mental health, we give little importance to our spiritual life.
In the course of my work leading the Institute for Women’s Health, I traveled frequently abroad to advocate for the promotion of women’s optimal health and found that robust and well-integrated faith communities clearly improved women’s physical health. I’ve seen first hand how it can be done. . It has the potential to thrive as a logistical hub where resources are distributed and mutual assistance is offered and received. And it emphasizes the intrinsic values of the most vulnerable women and girls, sometimes looking to faith as the only source of hope and peace.
A robust and well-integrated faith community can significantly improve the physical health of women. (St. Petersburg)
And yet, despite overwhelming evidence that we should take our spiritual health seriously, we rarely do. Just as we once ignored the importance of mental health, we attach little importance to spiritual life, naively thinking that a person’s physical health and quality of survival are enough. (or blindly) believe. it’s not. We need to start thinking more deeply about how mere physical health is the only measure of success for women, whoever they are.
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In addition to raising awareness, we must also commit to upholding religious freedom wherever it exists. Because religious freedom is a fundamental prerequisite for enhanced spiritual health and a core requirement for an individual’s ability to live, speak, and act publicly in accordance with their spiritual beliefs. After all, around the world, more than 360 million people are persecuted or unable to worship freely because of their faith. This means you don’t have the freedom to access the kind of spiritual life that can make a big difference in your ability to achieve optimal health results.
Remember, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Women are irreplaceable as leaders, mothers, thinkers, workers and starting points for the future of civilization. Enhancing their ability to achieve optimal health and prosperity will shape this future trajectory and ensure that their social, economic, cultural and political contributions are and will continue. guaranteed.
