Don’t pray for me

… at least not when it’s time fo my triple bypass, because you’d increase my chance of experiencing complications during recovery by seven percentage points, according to a recent study:

Percentage of Patients Having Complications After Surgery:
52% – Patients who were receiving prayers and did not know this.
52% – Patients receiving no prayers and not being told anything about prayers taking place anywhere for anyone.
59% – Patients knowing they were receiving prayers

Does this mean that knowing people are praying for you is bad for your health? Some say that the stress of thinking ‘I must be really ill if people are praying for my health’ may have contributed towards the health complications.
Praying Doesn’t Help The Sick Get Better, Christian Nordqvist, Medical News Today, April 1, 2006.

No, this is not an April fools joke – they really did this study, and the results are about to be published in the April 4 issue of the American Heart Journal. The John Templeton Foundation shelled out $2.4 million (!) for this study, where Harvard Medical School researchers divided 1,802 bypass patients at six hospitals into three groups. Two groups were uncertain whether they would be the subject of prayers. The third was told they would be prayed for. Too bad for them, because they had the highest rate of complications.

OK, so if you must pray for me, do me a favor and keep it to yourself.

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