Role of spirituality on immune system health
Spirituality and religion have also been linked to immune system health. People who regularly attend religious services, for example, have lower levels of depression and increased levels of positive emotions. Research studies show that social support may help people cope with stress better.
Spirituality can be defined as a person's search for meaning and transcendence from the physical world. There are many different types of spirituality such as religious beliefs, atheist values, humanist values, secular humanism, agnosticism, etc.
The immune system is one of the most important parts of our body for fighting off infections and diseases. It protects us from all sorts of dangers such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, toxins, etc. It also helps us fight cancer cells and other harmful organisms that may be present in our body.
Spirituality has a role in modulating immune responses. There are studies which affirm this notion as well as spiritual leaders who have been advocating it for centuries now.
Spirituality is also generally seen as a personal quest, journey, or transformation in some cases, while in other cases it refers to a system of beliefs and practices related to transcendence or spiritual values.
The immune system health benefits of spirituality are becoming more widely accepted in Western medicine. This new perspective of spirituality on cancer has been emerging since the 1990s when clinical trials started reporting improvements in common immune markers, including T cell division rates and serum immunoglobulin. This includes an improvement of general indicators of health and specific markers for cancer.