Do Religious People Really Sleep Better?
New research explores four hypotheses about the faith—sleep connection.
Posted July 23, 2018 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch
Years of research have shown that religious involvement is associated with many dimensions of good health. Among patients with cancer , for example, religion is associated with fewer physical symptoms and better functioning. Additional research has found significant correlations between religion and better mental health .
Do people who are involved in religion also sleep longer and better? A recent study addressed this question by reviewing seven relevant studies. Here's what they found:
People who were religiously involved were more likely to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Interestingly this association was found only for those from what were described as "liberal-to-moderate" religions (e.g., Presbyterian) and not among those from "conservative" religions (e.g., Baptist).
People who regularly attend religious services are more likely to report sound sleep quality. This effect was found for those who attended religious services at least once per week; attending less often was not associated with an advantage.
People who believe that God is in control of their life report better sleep quality. A similar effect was found for those who believe that their body is sacred, though only among those who also ascribed control to God.
Among US military veterans, who are predisposed to poor sleep for multiple reasons, religious involvement is associated with less sleep disturbance. This correlation held after statistically controlling for many variables such as sex , marital status, and traumatic brain injury .
It's important to note that religion was not always associated with better sleep outcomes. For example, one study found that being religiously active was correlated with less sleep time; another found poorer sleep quality and greater use of sleep medications among those who were struggling with religious doubts. But on the whole, religious involvement and better sleep went hand in hand.
So how did the authors of the review account for these connections? They offered four possibilities:
It's important to bear in mind that all of the data the authors reviewed were correlational, meaning they were collected at a single point in time in each study. It's well known that we can't infer causation from correlation, which in this case means we can't conclude that being religious causes a person to sleep better.
It could be the case, for example, that socially connected people tend to be religious, and also tend to sleep better; thus what looks like an effect of religion on sleep could actually be the effect of a third variable (sociability) on both religion and sleep.
Similarly, the effect could run in the opposite direction, meaning that sleeping better makes one more likely to be religious. For example, sleeping better could make a person more willing to get up on a weekend morning to attend religious services, whereas the chronically sleep deprived might prefer to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
In any case, the study authors conclude that additional research is needed to better understand and account for the connections between religion and sleep, including potential negative effects. Longitudinal designs in which data are collected on the same sample at different time points could begin to address the correlation-vs.-causation issue.
They also suggest more advanced measures of sleep (e.g., objective measures like polysomnography) and more sophisticated measurements of religious involvement.
Hill, T. D., Deangelis, R., & Ellison, C. G. (2018). Religious involvement as a social determinant of sleep: An initial review and conceptual model. Sleep Health, 4 , 325-330.
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Seth J. Gillihan, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and author specializing in mindful cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.