They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength
They shall mount up with wings and eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faith.
(Isa 40:31)

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Research shows that prayer is good for the body as well as the soul:
https://renewaljournal.com/2019/08/11/israeli-research-prayer-is-good-for-the-body/

RESEARCH SHOWS PRAYER IS GOOD FOR THE BODY AS WELL AS THE SOUL

A new Israeli study has found that praying regularly can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 50%. The study, which was funded by the National Institute of Health in Washington, D.C., found that women, who have a significantly larger chance of developing forms of dementia, could stave off the disease through prayer. The findings confirm earlier studies that indicated religion can play a positive role. “We found that people with higher levels of spiritual well-being had a significantly slower progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” Yakir Kaufman, the head of the neuropsychiatric department at Herzog hospital in Jerusalem said.

The Israeli organization Melabev has ten centres serving about 600 Alzheimer’s patients for whom prayer is part of the daily routine. “If prayer is done in a centre or a religious facility, it is communal and there is a social aspect,” Susan Sachs, the director of public relations and development at Melabev said. “It gives hope and perspective, and for many people it helps retain their dignity. They’re doing something that they did all their lives.” Melabev provides an alternative to institutionalizing Alzheimer’s patients by providing a full day of activities. Sachs estimates there are 100,000 people suffering from the disease in Israel.

The centres provide them with laminated cards with the most popular prayers printed in large type, although many of the patients rely on memory, which also helps strengthen their cognitive function. While prayer has some cognitive elements, it strengthens emotional functioning even more. As the patients’ cognitive function declines, his or her emotional function may be strengthened, according to Leah Abramowitz, the head of the Institute for the Study of Aging at Melabev. She said that, “It’s like a baby who can feel his mother’s emotions and will start crying if she is angry or tense. It’s like the person who is fully blind having more acute hearing.”

Prayer can also lower stress levels – one of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s. Other risk factors include high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. As people live longer, there is more chance that they will develop dementia. Israel’s life expectancy – 80 years for men and 84.2 for women – is the world’s fourth-highest, exceeded only by Japan, Hong Kong and Switzerland. Professor Rivka Inzelberg of Tel Aviv University, who led the research, told a conference that the study indicated that 50% more women than men suffer memory impairments. She said “rituals, like prayer, are especially comforting to Alzheimer’s patients. Prayer is something that went into their long term memory many years ago. It is a ritual that is very comforting for them.”

Source: The Media Line
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RESEARCHERS FIND THAT PRAYER IS BENEFICIAL EVEN ON A SCIENTIFIC LEVEL

An interesting study was recently done by German psychologists at Saarland University and the University of Mannheim, on the effects of prayer on those who pray. Some of the findings revealed that praying can help a person maintain self-control and resist temptation, as well as help alleviate depression and other benefits. In the study—published online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology—the authors noted that “a brief period of personal prayer changes the self-control depletion effect…these results are consistent with and contribute to a growing body of work attesting to the beneficial effects of praying on self-control.”

The 79 participants—41-Christian; 14-atheist; 10-agnostic and 14 of other religions—were given tests designed to measure their level of self-control when faced with temptation. The researchers found that those participants who prayed before the start of the test showed they maintained high levels of self-control to the end.

In another study, the effect of a belief in God in relation to treatment for depression was researched. The results showed that those patients who had no, or only a slight belief in God were “twice as likely not to respond to treatment” than the patients who claimed to have a higher level of belief in God.

January, 2014.
[We know it first and best from the Bible. Nice to have confirmations.]