WHAT a world we live in! War in Ukraine and Yemen; terrorism and conflict in Africa and the Middle East; Covid-19 still with us with no sign of going away; high petrol prices at the pump; high gas and electricity prices in the home; global warming threatening to negatively change the planet, and constant disagreement on social media, television and in government that is threatening to tear apart the fabric of society. To be honest, sometimes I feel like shouting: ‘Stop the bus I want to get off!’

Given all this and the seemingly constant pressure that we are under in our everyday lives, is it any wonder that mental health is a massive – global – issue? It can’t be a surprise, can it? But what can we do about it? What can we do to help alleviate life’s stresses, or indeed guard ourselves against them in the first place? It’s simple really…pray!

Many studies by psychologists and mental-health groups have concluded that people of faith are far less likely to suffer from mental illness or stress, in comparison to those who hold no religious faith.

A study by newscientist.com states that ‘Religion offers an interpretative framework to understand the world. It lets you know when to act, how to act, and what to do in specific situations.’ Whilst a study in 2010 by neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg of Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia, suggests that ‘meditative prayer (such as prayer that repeats a particular phrase), activate areas of the brain involved in regulating emotional responses.’

Brain scans of Tibetan Buddhist and Franciscan nuns found that long-term meditators had more activity in frontal-lobe areas such as the prefrontal cortex, and that strengthening these areas of the brain help people be “more calm, less reactionary, better able to deal with stressors.

All this doesn’t mean that people of faith do not suffer from mental health issues or struggle with the ills of society. Faith and prayer are not some sort of magic solution to life’s difficulties. What they do is to allow us to focus on the meaning of life, including all things good and bad, with many religious adherents, especially those of monotheistic religions, focusing on what is to come – life eternal.

Praying and prayer chant allows people of faith to have direct contact with God, which is something that many people find comforting and helpful, helping them find their way forward in difficult circumstances. And unlike many other things in life it is free and personal. Our conversation with God – for that is what prayer is – is immediate and not under time constraints. It can be carried out as frequent or infrequent as the person demands.

It won’t stop us from feeling the pains of life, or struggling with everyday tribulations, but what faith and prayer does is to help us make sense of them and understand that they are part of who and what we are as human beings.

As the late actor and martial-artist Bruce Lee once said: ‘Do not pray for an easy life, pray for strength to endure a difficult one’