We live in a science-oriented culture. Evaluations are made according to observation—especially scientific and mathematical proof. The problem is that the power of prayer cannot be observed with the senses or recorded on paper. We can report, for example, that a person’s health improves, and that the person actively prayed prior to the improvement, but can we ever really link the prayers to the enhanced health without taking a leap of faith? After years of dismissing prayer as a “mind over matter” technique—a type of self-hypnosis—science is finally starting to probe deeply into this area.

In the 1960s, several studies were conducted on the effects of prayer, but they were too small to be considered convincing. For example, one looked at eighteen children who suffered from leukemia. Another involved forty-eight people with rheumatic illnesses. Both came up with positive feedback on the power of prayer. But while some people were encouraged by these studies, the strictly scientific community scoffed at their conclusions. In the opinion of these scientists, the research was simply not conducted in a manner that was convincing enough to put prayer into the medical journals. Researchers needed to prepare studies that would stand up against the scrutiny of science. Until then, studies wouldn’t be of much value.

Fast-forward approximately two decades. Some say it was during the height of corporate obsession in the 1980s that a renewed interest in researching spirituality and prayer arose. Whatever the case, the New Age movement gained in popularity, promoting the benefits of prayer and meditation, relaxation, communion with nature, and a celebration of the metaphysical. All of a sudden, stores were selling prayer beads, crystals, zither recordings, and incense. Book publishers began turning out volume after volume on angel visitation and near-death experiences. Television shows on paranormal occurrences and miraculous events mesmerized audiences. It was obvious that the American public was spiritually hungry, and along with that hunger came a demand to know if prayer was truly effective.

It wasn’t long before the benefits of prayer would be discussed not only around kitchen tables and in college classrooms, but also in medical research buildings and hospitals. The practice of praying for increased physical and mental health is more ancient than numbers can tell. But it was time to test the validity of such practice with well constructed scientific studies.

There were, and still are, many people who argued against the clinical study of prayer. The bottom line is this: Those who believe that prayer works have faith that surpasses numerical and material proof. They know how prayer operates in their lives from experience. In such light, putting God to the test seems ridiculous. And they have a strong point. Why subject something immaterial and immeasurable to observation? The problem, as previously mentioned, is that we live in a science-oriented culture. Thus, it is thought that any scientific proof for or against prayer can provide us with the ultimate answer we are seeking. In plain English, if we can’t prove something, it must be wrong. On the other hand, if something can survive scientific investigation and come out on top, it’s considered valid. Consciously or unconsciously, many of us seek that type of confirmation.

So the following section looks at the most respected scientific studies conducted on prayer. But first, it should be noted that while many studies of prayer have yielded positive results, not all prayer studies have proven the physical efficacy of prayer. For those who believe in prayer, the failure of these studies means nothing. And even to those who have questionable or no faith in the power of prayer, it should be evident that scientific prayer studies can go only so far. It is impossible to absolutely “control” prayer in a study. Furthermore, answers to prayers are not always obvious, and not always given in ways that the scientific world would consider positive. For example, if a woman prays that her mother will receive help in her illness, the prayers might contribute to her mother’s recovery from the sickness, or they might help the mother gain better coping skills to endure the illness. A clinical study on prayer’s effectiveness would look only for the first outcome. Scientific studies measure the effects of prayer against only one desired result. So it is important to generally acknowledge the limits of studies on prayer—both those that are successful and those that are not.

SCIENCE STUDIES PRAYER AND HUMAN HEALTH

Scientists believe that the most accurate studies of prayer focus on intercessory prayer—that is, prayer offered by one person for the well-being of another person. This is due to the fact that the validity of prayer power on the individual who prays is easily argued; scientists can, and often do, attribute any health benefits to the placebo effect—that is, to the fact that the person believed prayer would work, and as a result, unconsciously willed the effect to take place. No one argues the power of the mind. It can certainly trigger physical events. But when it comes to intercessory prayer, we can’t point to the individual’s mind-over-body mechanism. The person being prayed for often does not even know that he is the beneficiary of another’s prayers. As a result, the most widely respected studies on prayer have examined intercessory prayer.

Another point should be made before we look at the actual studies. In each study, the members of one group were assigned people to pray for them, while the members of another group were not. However, it was not known whether individuals in either group had family members, friends, religious-community members, or others praying for them. Thus, you can already see the complications involved in studying a subject such as prayer, even when the subject is limited to intercessory prayer. There is no way to truly control prayer. Having given this caution, let’s consider the following two studies.

San Francisco General Hospital

In the late 1980s, Dr. Randolph Byrd was a practicing cardiologist at San Francisco General Hospital. He decided to conduct what has been called the first serious study of the medical effects of intercessory prayer. The controlled ten-month study—published in The Southern Medical Journal in 1988—was performed on 393 cardiac-care-unit patients. The general outcome gave reason to believe that patients for whom prayers are said fare better than other patients. In fact, some analyses of the study estimated a 10-percent difference between the groups.

The subjects of the study were randomly assigned, by computer, to one of two groups: 192 patients would be prayed for by a designated group of people, while 201 patients would not have prayers said for them. This was a double-blind study, meaning that the patients, the nurses, and the doctors were not aware of the group to which any patient belonged. Meanwhile, the individuals who prayed came from Roman Catholic and Protestant prayer groups, and were given the names of the patients and a small amount of data on their conditions. They were then asked to pray every day for the patients, but were not provided with any specific guidelines on how to conduct their prayers. The study was designed so that each patient in the “prayer group” had from five to seven people praying for him, and each person who prayed had a number of patients for whom he had to say prayers.

The results showed that the patients who were prayed for were five times less likely to need antibiotic treatments than those in the control group; only three patients in the prayed-for group needed antibiotics, as compared with sixteen patients in the control group. The prayed-for patients were also three times less likely to develop a condition called pulmonary edema; six patients in the prayed-for group suffered from pulmonary edema, while eighteen control-group patients did. None of the patients who were prayed for needed breathing assistance, whereas twelve of the control-group members required mechanical respiratory support.

This study not only shows the effectiveness of prayer, but also demonstrates that space and distance do not seem to affect the potency of prayer. There was no difference in effectiveness between the prayers of those who lived close by and the prayers of those who resided on the other side of the country. So the power from which prayer stems does not seem to be confined by our notions of time and space. Dr. Larry Dossey, author of Recovering the Soul: A Scientific and Spiritual Search, points out: “This suggests immediately that there is no ‘energy’ involved in prayer as we understand this term in modern science.” Whether or not you believe that the power of prayer is translated into some form of physical energy, the bottom line is that prayer works.

Mid-America Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Hospital

A 1998 scientific study conducted at St. Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, analyzed whether patients who are prayed for enjoy a speedier, less difficult recovery. This study, published in the well-respected Archives of Internal Medicine, declared the effectiveness of what is termed “remote intercessory prayer.” More simply, it was found that the patients who unknowingly had people praying for them during the period of the study recovered more fully than those for whom designated people did not pray.

William Harris, who had accomplished his doctorate and specialized in research on heart disease, led the research team. The team also included medical doctors, including a cardiologist, as well as a psychologist, a statistician, a hospital chaplain, and a reverend. The study involved 990 patients, each of whom was admitted to the coronary care unit at St. Luke’s Hospital. All suffered from serious, even life-threatening conditions, ranging from heart attack, to congestive heart failure, to severe coronary disease.

The patients in the St. Luke’s study were split as follows: 466 patients were selected randomly and prayed for, every day, by five participating people; 524 were randomly placed in a control group for whom prayers were not said. A total of 75 people did the praying—all volunteers from the Kansas City region. They came from various denominations, and all believed not only in God’s existence, but also in God’s concern for each individual. And all volunteers believed in the healing power of prayer.

The volunteers were asked to pray “for a speedy recovery with no complications.” Neither the patients nor the physicians of the patients were aware of the study. Prayers were not conducted in the hospital, but rather away from it. And the volunteers were not given any detailed information on those for whom they were praying. In fact, the only information they were given were the first names of those to whom they were assigned, and the fact that they were sick. The prayers were conducted for twenty-eight days, beginning one day after a given patient was admitted to St. Luke’s coronary care unit.

What was the result? Dr. Harris firmly stated that the subjects for whom the volunteers prayed “just did better.” He then explained what he and the researchers meant by “better.” Thirty-five different health issues were studied to analyze the progress of the patients. For example, researchers looked at the numbers and types of medications that each patient required, how much time was spent on respirators, if a pacemaker was necessary, the length of the hospital stay, and the time in which either recovery or death occurred. The conclusion of the research team was that the patients who were prayed for ended up doing 11 percent better than those for whom prayers were not said. According to the rules of statistics, such an outcome is significant.

And the Research Continues

The studies examined above are just two—albeit the best known and most respected—of the hundreds of studies that have researched the topic of prayer’s effect on health. An overwhelming majority of these studies have shown that prayer positively affects physical well-being. Moreover, David Myers, in his Reformed Review article “On Assessing Prayer, Faith, and Health,” reports that interest in the link between spirituality and health is only increasing. More and more scientific attention is being directed at the power of prayer.

For example, Myers reminds us that Harvard Medical School runs an annual and very well-attended conference named “Spirituality and Healing in Medicine.” There, the latest research on prayer is revealed. Furthermore, Duke University has formed a specific center to study how religion and spirituality affect health. And the number of medical schools that offer classes on spirituality and health has greatly increased, growing from three in 1994 to sixty-one in 1999. Clearly, scientific research into prayer is only in its infancy. In the coming years, we can look forward to further studies on the power of prayer and spirituality.

THE SPINDRIFT EXPERIMENTS

In addition to studies performed on the power of prayer in human healing, more general studies on prayer have been conducted. Take, for example, the many studies performed by Spindrift, an organization based in Salem, Oregon, that studies the effectiveness of different types of prayer. Members of Spindrift conduct basic, simple experiments on prayer in order to understand its power more fully. One of the philosophies that the Spindrift researchers assume is that every human being possesses a certain divinity within, and that all divine aspects of our selves come together to form a great Oneness. Interestingly, Spindrift researchers don’t limit themselves to human-to-human studies. Instead, they try to get down to the very basics of prayer by considering how it affects even something quite different from the prayer practitioners—such as a batch of seedlings.

Prayers for Growth

Let’s consider one experiment conducted on two groups of rye seeds, the groups being of equal quantities of seeds. Both groups were placed within the same environment—a container filled with a soil-like substance widely used in gardening. The researchers simply made two sections by running a string down the center of the container, and then labeled one side A and one side B. The study assigned people to pray for the seeds in one group, and not the other. When the seeds had sprouted, the number of rye shoots in each group was counted.

What were the results? Researchers found a significant difference between the number of sprouts in the two groups. Specifically, the group for which prayers were said contained more shoots than the control group. The test was repeated many times, and involved new people each time, but results remained consistent. It was concluded that prayers for a specific group of organisms produce positive effects. These studies also highlighted the power of the human consciousness over objects outside of the body.

Prayers for Healing

Once the initial tests on the rye seeds were concluded, Spindrift researchers decided to take a new approach. Since we often apply prayer to unhealthy individuals, researchers chose to apply it to unhealthy seeds. But because it’s impossible to pinpoint seeds that might be “unhealthy,” the researchers added salt water to a container of seeds in an otherwise identical environment to the one previously described. Salt water puts stress on seeds, making it more difficult for them to grow in a healthy manner.

The results of this test proved even more dramatic than the results of those conducted on “healthy” seeds. This time, the number of shoots on the prayed-for side was higher than that on the unprayed-for side in an even greater ratio than found in the tests on unstressed seeds. This type of study was repeated several times as well, with a greater amount of salt added each time. And in each successive test, the number of shoots coming from the prayed-for group was larger in ratio to the control group, and larger in number than in the previous experiment. Therefore, researchers concluded that prayer works best when there are greater challenges or increased stress.

In order to back up the data on the salt-water-grown rye seeds, soybeans were used in a separate battery of tests. This time, though, stress was placed on the plants via temperature and humidity levels. The results were consistent with those that arose from the earlier rye seed experiments.

Is More Prayer, More Effective?

Now the researchers turned to another topic: Does the number of prayers matter? In order to investigate this question, Spindrift researchers set up four containers: a control container, the seeds of which would not be the subjects of prayers; container X; container Y; and container Z. The seeds in containers X and Y were prayed for as a unit; so were the seeds in containers Y and Z. Obviously, the seeds in container Y were to receive double the prayers. And guess what? When it came down to success in germination, the seeds in container Y did twice as well, leading to the conclusion that greater amounts of prayer have stronger effects.

How Much Should You Know About the Subject of the Prayers?

Another conclusion noted through the Spindrift experiments was that the more a person knows about the subject of his prayers, the more effective the prayers will be. Tests showed that when a person didn’t know anything about the nature of the seeds for which he was praying, the positive results of the prayers were a lot lower than when he did have some conceptualization of the seeds. This doesn’t mean that he had to know exactly what outcome to pray for—that’s often impossible, as we don’t always fully understand illness or how it should best be handled. Besides, it’s better not to impose our wills onto God or the universe. It means that the prayer practitioner was better off having a certain understanding or knowledge of his subjects, perhaps because it fostered an attachment and helped make the prayers more sincere.

Should Prayer Be Directed or Nondirected?

In studying prayer and its many forms, we come across two approaches: direct or directed prayer, and indirect or nondirected prayer. One objective of the Spindrift studies was to compare the two forms of prayer and see which is most effective.

Directed prayer occurs when a person prays for a very specific outcome, a very distinct result. In the Spindrift experiments, directed prayer was accomplished by praying for a quicker rate of germination. In nondirected prayer, no pinpointed goal is requested. For instance, to test the power of nondirected prayer, the Spindrift people prayed in an open-ended manner for the seeds rather than for a specific result. In all tests, results were consistent: While both forms of prayer were generally effective, nondirected prayer was much more effective, sometimes even doubling positive results. What author Larry Dossey refers to as the “Thy will be done” approach to the universe and God was determined to be the most powerful form of prayer.

As a result of their work, the Spindrift organization suggests that when praying for a subject, you keep an open mind and try not to form images and associations. Simply remain in a holy state of consciousness that includes the subject. In this way, you do not try to force your will upon the universe, but, instead, allow the universe (or God) to do what is more responsible and important in the larger perspective. Spindrift points out that, in fact, we often don’t know what is “best” for the subject of our prayer—be it another person, a pet, or a plant. This is another reason that nondirected prayer is the better avenue. It simply leads the organism back to the most appropriate state.

These results do run contrary to the techniques of visualization that are encouraged in some schools of thought—and contrary to the preferences of many people who like to have a particular image or agenda in mind when they pray. But nondirected prayer worked best in the Spindrift experiments. If nothing else, this information reminds us to be leery of projecting too many of our own judgments and desires into prayers. We should attempt to remain open-minded and receptive to a divine plan that is a good deal larger than what we can immediately comprehend.

SCIENCE EXPLAINS BENEFITS TO THE PRAYER PRACTITIONER

Science has not limited its studies to the benefits of intercessory prayer for the person—or even the thing, in the case of a seed—for whom the prayers are said. A number of studies have also confirmed the positive effects of prayer on the practitioner himself. In fact, at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Georgetown University’s Dr. Dale Matthews confirmed that people who regularly observe religious practices have been found to experience improvement of a number of severe health problems, including cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, alcoholism, and drug abuse.

Let’s look at just a few studies to illustrate the type of confirmation that science has found concerning prayer’s effectiveness on the prayer practitioner. One study, reported in the American Heart Association Journal, looked at mantra meditation, or word chanting, which is considered a form of Western prayer as well as an Eastern meditation practice. During this type of meditation, a prayer phrase, word, or sound is repeatedly recited at fixed tones and intervals. Remarkably, the study found that the blood pressure-lowering effects of mantra meditation were comparable to the benefits induced by medication, and better than the benefits gained from simply making lifestyle changes or performing progressive muscle relaxation.

And consider the following additional information. In 1995, a study conducted at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College tracked 250 open-heart surgery patients. The researchers concluded that those who included religion in their lives and had social support (which often “piggybacks” religious practice) were twelve times less likely to pass away. And at Duke University, 1,000 patients were assessed between 1987 and 1989 for the link between depression and hospitalization. During this study, researchers found that patients who made religion—including the practice of prayer—a part of their lives handled hospitalization much better than those who didn’t.

Although science has not yet offered explanations for the effectiveness of intercessory prayer, it has attempted to explain benefits to the prayer practitioner. We’ll consider these explanations shortly. But to understand the power of prayer for the practitioner himself, you first need to know a little about how and why stress occurs.

Modern culture bombards the individual with stress in the form of deadlines, traffic, financial worries, and more. While we may consciously know that these are intellectual or mental stresses, rather than physical threats, our bodies make no distinction between the two. Whether emotional or physical, actual or imagined, the body senses stress and sends stress hormones soaring as a protective measure. After millennia of being a species that, in order to survive, has reacted to any strange sounds, menacing predators, or sudden changes in weather, we are programmed to respond quickly and severely.

When it perceives a threat, the body makes a quick decision to stimulate the hypothalamus and begin the fight-or-flight response. This is the response that once enabled us to escape from that lion—and that now permits us to slam on the brakes before we hit the child on the bicycle. As part of the fight-or-flight syndrome, the nervous system releases hormones that act as messengers, alerting the body to heighten its defenses. As a result, there is a rise in metabolism, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and muscle tension. This is necessary in some circumstances, but when your body maintains a stress reaction over long periods of time, continually triggered by daily stressors, much physical damage occurs.

Fortunately, studies have found that prayer can help. Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Herbert Benson found that as much as we can stimulate the hypothalamus into stressing the body, we can also relax the body to reduce the stress response. We can help ourselves achieve a restful state in different ways, but among the best techniques—arguably, the best techniques—are prayer and meditation. Medical researchers have postulated that prayer and ritual practices act as emotional triggers that set off biochemical reactions which actually diminish the levels of stress hormones in the body. Regular practice of this “relaxation response” leads to benefits that can last all day long. When stress levels are reduced, so are blood pressure, chronic pain, sleep disorders, anxiety symptoms, and many other health problems. Clearly, health—both mental and physical, not to mention spiritual—is enhanced as a result.

SCIENCE, PRAYER, AND THE PLACEBO EFFECT

From the viewpoint of a person who prays, prayer occurs on the spiritual level. It feeds the mind which, in turn, affects the body. But from a scientific point of view, the spiritual level is not applicable. And until recently, even the power of the mind over the body was not recognized as a valuable treatment mode by the scientific community.

It has always been standard research practice that, during studies to test the effectiveness of a medication, some study participants are administered the real treatment, while others are given placebos—fake pills or treatments—without their knowing it. If the treated individuals get better, and the ones on the placebos don’t, the researchers can rather safely claim that the treatment is effective. But there is usually a glitch in the process. Most often, a certain percentage of the study participants who have been on the placebos actually improve in health.

For over fifty years, researchers dismissed such occurrences as statistical aberrations. Coining the term placebo effect, they didn’t bother to investigate the reason why these people were getting better, and certainly didn’t acknowledge that there was a powerful treatment method right before their eyes—the body-mind connection. It wasn’t until the alternative health movement toward the end of the twentieth century that the body-mind connection was credited as a viable path to better health. Now we know that when people believe that they will get better, sometimes they do! And prayer certainly taps into this connection. As human beings, our minds partake in all of our activities, including prayer. So prayer affects the mind, and the mind influences the body.

The inflexibility behind the long-term refusal to recognize the mind-body connection is perhaps the same inflexibility that keeps many in the scientific community from touting the power of prayer today. It is easier, and more advantageous, for science to stick to physical, controllable solutions. Such methods work within the conventional model of science. But, as the next section reveals, the very principles of traditional science’s approach to biology and physics—indeed, to the entire universe—are now being called into question through the study of quantum physics.

A QUANTUM LEAP

In general, the scientific principles on which we base our understanding of the universe is part of what is called Newtonian/ Cartesian physics. This branch of science poses theories that help us comprehend how the physical world works. You are probably getting flashbacks to your high-school science teacher’s blackboard drawings of atoms, complete with protons, neutrons, and electrons. But don’t worry. There is no surprise quiz at the end of the article—just perhaps some surprising insights!

Newtonian/Cartesian physics bases its theories on observation and mathematical formulations. For many years, this system has predominated our way of understanding the universe. In fact, for quite some time, it seemed as though Newtonian/Cartesian physics was on the verge of uncovering the very secrets of the universe. After all, it was even able to figure out the structure of an atom! Everything seemed to have an inherent order; everything seemed explainable! However, a problem was developing—quantum physics.

Quantum physics goes one level deeper, into the subatomic world. Yes, beyond the world of atoms there is a whole other story—one made up of bits of energy that don’t follow an inherent order. With the advent of powerful computer imaging, this field has only blossomed. Researchers have found that the tiny, subatomic particles arise and dissolve unpredictably—without an observable pattern, from some unobservable background or matrix. At this level, the old scientific models don’t work. Observation and mathematical formulations just can’t apply to every system. That comes as no surprise to those who place credibility in prayer. To them, arguments that we can’t prove prayer’s effectiveness through observation, or record how prayer actually works, can easily be diffused by the fact that the power of prayer exists outside of the Newtonian/Cartesian model.

Within this world of subatomic matter, we can only define an unexplainable occurrence—for example, the disappearance of a particle at one energy level, and its reappearance at another—as a quantum leap. A quantum leap requires an acceptance that some things can never be fully explained by current scientific law. And that’s not very different from the leap of faith that prayer requires. In the end, perhaps the practice of prayer effects a quantum leap of its own kind. It takes us, spontaneously and unexplainably, into the realm of spiritual energy.

CONCLUSION

After reading this article, it is difficult to doubt that prayer is a healthy practice. It is also heartening to see that science and prayer are not as far apart as they once seemed. Prayer is being studied now more than ever. However, it should also be considered that, at this point, science is not fully equipped to attain all the answers to all the questions, including how and why prayer is so effective. The fact that something cannot be explained by observation or computation does not signify that it is not valid. Prayer works, whether or not we know why it works.




Copyright © 2001 by Helene Ciaravino

From How to Pray by Helene Ciaravino (Garden City Park, New York: Square One Publishers, 2001).