Prayer Strengthens Your Brain

Did you know that prayer is good for your brain? Praying to God not only helps us emotionally and spiritually, but it also strengthens one’s brain.

Andrew Newberg, M.D. studies the actual health benefits that praying provides to the brain. (He is director of research at the Myrna Brind Center for Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Medical College in Philadelphia.)

Dr. Newberg has studied brain scans of people during religious activities to observe changes. He notes:

·        Prayer protects the brain against deterioration. The frontal part of the brain is activated by prayer and focused activities like Scripture reading and meditation. This protects the brain against age-related deterioration associated with dementia!

·        Prayer increases activity in the compassion part of the brain. That occurs because when we pray for other people, we increase our compassion for them.

·        Prayer increases our sense of connectedness to others and to God, because often we pray and participate in religious experiences as a group. The brain then shows less activity in the ‘self’ center of the brain.

·        Prayer increases comfort and lessens stress. This is observed in the deactivation of the ‘primitive’ area of the brain associated with anger and resentment.

Once again, the Bible holds up to human scrutiny. Not that we need to know all the details of the science of our brain, but we just need to know that prayer works and proves effective in so many ways. Nearly 2,000 years ago holy writ recorded: “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). Who knew praying provides actual health benefits for the brain of the person praying!

Thank God for this powerful way of connecting with our Maker.

(Accessed in The Mind Health Report, Oct. 2011 and andrewnewberg.com, How God Changes Your Brain, April 2016)

+ Sherree Lane, Campus Pastor

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