Is the placebo effect a "psychic effect" in itself? Isn't it "mind over
matter", ie PK? The truth is out there.
FWP
On Mon, 9 Jul 2001, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> Michael Wiik wrote:
> > Researchers have found, for example, that religious people live, on
> > average, about seven years longer than other Americans. Levin cites a
> > study done by California's respected Human Population Laboratory that
> > tracked 5,000 people for 28 years and found that those who frequently
> > attended church were 23 percent less likely to die during the study
> > period than people who didn't regularly go to church. "This holds true
> > even controlling for the fact that religious folks tend to avoid such
> > behaviors as smoking and drinking that increase the risk of disease and
> > death," Levin reported.
> >
> > Other studies have found that for each of the three leading causes of
> > death in the United States -- heart disease, cancer and hypertension --
> > people who report a religious affiliation have lower rates of illness.
> > Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have reported that attending
> > religious services at least once a month more than halved the risk of
> > death due to heart disease, emphysema, suicide and some kinds of
> > cancers.
>
> What I think is occuring is simply a sort of placebo effect: those who
> believe they are going to live on after death are less stressed out
> about dying, and stress is a known major contributor to death rates for
> the mentioned maladies.
>
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