4 Benefits of Spiritual Medicine

Spirituality is one of the most underused aspects of medicine. Your mind, body, and spirit are all designed to work together to help keep you healthy. When your health needs attention, you achieve much better results when you look at your body holistically.

But working on your spiritual health doesn’t necessarily equal becoming religious. Spirituality and religion can often feel very different. Dr. Daniel Rieders of Peninsula Integrative Cardiology explains more about the benefits of spiritual medicine.

What is spiritual medicine?

Spiritual medicine is admittedly not a part of most mainstream medicine, but that doesn’t mean it has no place in medicine. Some might even say it’s as important as physical or mental health.

A study by Harvard University found that including spirituality in your medical care leads to better outcomes overall. It doesn’t matter what your particular spirituality is, just that you practice it regularly.

Four benefits of spiritual medicine

Spiritual medicine has a powerful effect on your health. Some of the benefits of spiritual medicine include the following:

1. Spiritual medicine aligns your gut and brain

There’s a theory in medicine that is gaining acceptance: your stomach, or gut, links to your brain. The balance of flora in your stomach strongly affects your mental health. Many of the foods in our modern American diet have a particularly negative effect on your mental health. With the help of spiritual medicine, you can choose to make healthier dietary choices, which in turn often benefit your mental health (and your physical health as well.)

2. It boosts your immune system

Your immune system performs better when you include spiritual medicine in your treatment. With a stronger immune system, you can fight off the cold and flu bugs around you. In addition, a stronger immune system means that you have better overall health and may even have a greater resistance to serious diseases.

3. Regulates your hormones

Your hormones require your entire body to be in balance. If anything is off, it can regulate your hormones, which allows your body to function. When your spirit, body, and mind are aligned, your hormones can easily become imbalanced, leading to problems with your sexual and physical health.

4. Helps you create a proper environment

When you get spiritual health treatment, you may be better able to create a soothing environment around you. While this may not seem like a big deal, your environment plays a role in your mental and physical wellness. 

Including spiritual care in your overall healthcare can benefit your health.

Why seek spiritual care?

You may not get used to being asked about your spiritual wellness when you go to the doctor, but that should change. Given how much of a difference it makes in your health, your spiritual health shouldn’t be ignored. Contact Dr. Daniel Rieders at Peninsula Integrative Cardiology in San Ramon, California, or request an appointment online.