01/10/2026
❔What do you think about the link between health and faith?
Read on …
Health with the Hamels
Have a little faith
By Justin and Clara Hamel
The Source Newspaper
We are coming out of a season filled with religious connotation and strong connections to faith and belief. It serves as a reminder that spirituality continues to shape human experience today just as it has for thousands of years. In fact, long before written history or organized religion, humans expressed a foundational sense of faith through ritual and the creation of symbolic artifacts. During the Paleolithic era, early humans left evidence of spirituality through intentional burials, symbolic items left at grave sites and cave art. These practices indicate that the earliest societies held intricate beliefs about life, death and forces beyond the visible world. As human societies became more complex and began recording their beliefs in writing, spirituality took more structured forms. In Mesopotamia, Sumerian cuneiform tablets dating to around 3200 to 3000 BCE contain hymns, prayers and temple records dedicated to deities. These texts reflect an organized system rooted in the belief of the divine, and it is evidence that as long as there has been some semblance of organized society, there has been religious belief.
You may be asking yourself, “Okay, so faith and spirituality have been around for a long time, but what does that have to do with health?” As it turns out, a lot. Across cultures and throughout history, almost universally, spiritual beliefs have shaped how people understand illness, healing and well-being. In many early religions, temples were healing centers and spiritual leaders often were accepted as healers of the mind and body. In many nations, there remains little separation between health and spirituality, and only in the last several hundred years has there been a separation in more developed nations. For cultures around the world, faith has provided—and continues to provide—a framework for coping with suffering, managing stress and finding meaning during times of hardship.
When the integration of faith and health is examined, there becomes a clear connection that has more recently been supported by modern scientific study. Not only does faith provide a framework for understanding life, but actively engaging in faith practices can also improve health. Multiple peer-reviewed scientific studies have linked regular spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation and communal worship with reduced stress, greater emotional resilience, improved immune function, lower rates of heart disease, decreased levels of anxiety and depression, and improved mental well-being.
How does faith have such a positive effect on our health? Faith and spiritual practices often encourage healthy behaviors, foster social support and help people find a general sense of meaning, all of which are vital to our resilience, our health and our overall well-being.
The growing body of historical, psychological and biological evidence suggests that humans are not merely inclined toward faith, but are created with a deep capacity and need for belief, meaning and connection beyond themselves. Neuroscience and biology studies agree that the human mind is wired to seek purpose, order and relationship, qualities that are naturally built into faith. Books such as “The Biology of Belief” by Bruce Lipton or “How God Changes Your Brain” by Dr. Andrew Newberg highlight how deeply our beliefs shape stress responses, lend to emotional balance and improve physical health. With this information, rather than being dismissed as a simple cultural invention, faith emerges as a life-sustaining force that helps people interpret their experiences, endure suffering and pursue healing. From the earliest human rituals to modern science, faith appears woven into the fabric of humanity. This fabric then insulates humanity with hope, resilience and a sense of purpose that has and continues to sustain generations.
**Dr. Justin Hamel and Clara Hamel have a combined over 30 years of experience in health fields. Reach them at 1° Performance & Longevity, located at 46 N. Central Park Plz., Suite 101, in Jacksonville, on Facebook or by phone at 217-243-6358.
