The impact of religious practice on people\u27s health

Poznavanje različnih religij, in njihovih stališč do zdravja omogoča zdravstvenim delavcem lažje komuniciranje s pacienti ter pripomore k njihovi celostni obravnavi. Namen diplomskega dela je predstaviti odnos islama, judovstva in krščanstva do zdravega življenjskega sloga ter ugotoviti, kakšen vpliv imajo prakse teh religij na zdravje ljudi. Diplomsko delo je teoretično, uporabili smo deskriptivno metodo dela. S pregledom domače in tuje literature, dostopnih elektronskih virov ter rezultatov različnih raziskav smo ugotovili, da imajo največji vpliv na zdravje ljudi verske prakse, ki vključujejo v svoje delovanje tudi ozaveščanje o škodljivosti alkohola, tobaka in svinjine ter prednostih vegetarijanskega načina prehranjevanja. Ugotovili smo tudi, da obstajajo verske skupnosti, kot so krščanska adventistična cerkev, mormonska cerkev ter posamezne judovske ustanove, ki si še posebno prizadevajo za zdrav življenjski slog in promovirajo zdravje. Sklepamo lahko, da nekatere verske prakse v islamu, judovstvu in krščanstvu pozitivno vplivajo na zdravje pripadnikov teh religij. Ta vpliv bi bil še večji, če bi pripadniki teh religij dosledno upoštevali načela zdravega življenjskega sloga.Being informed about different religions and their stance towards the health improves the health worker\u27s communication with their patients and helps in their holistic assessment. The goal of this theoretical thesis paper is to present the perspective that Islam, Judaism and Christianity have on healthy lifestyle and to find out the scope of influence the religious practices have on human health. After the extensive research of both Slovenian and foreign literature, available online sources and existing research results, we have come to the conclusion that the major positive influence on human health comes from religious practices that raise awareness about detrimental effects of alcohol, tobacco and swine flesh, with the additional notion that the vegetarian diet is beneficial to health. It has been shown that there are several religious communities that place a great importance on healthy lifestyle, both in practice and in raising awareness of this importance. The most influential amongst them are the Seventh – day Adventist Church, Mormon Church and certain Jewish institutions. We have come to the conclusion that certain practices in Islam, Judaism and Christianity do indeed have beneficial effects on the health of members of these religious systems. The influence on the health would increase manifold if more members of these religions were consistent in those practices