What Research Says About
the Adventist Lifestyle
| My son, do not
forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong
your life many years and bring you prosperity. Prov. 3:1, 2, NIV. |
The year 1967
was a landmark year for Adventist health. That year the School of Public
Health began at Loma Linda University, and the Adventist Review
published the article “The Life Expectancy of SDAs” (Dec. 14, 1967), based
on research that indicated that SDAs outlived the average American by several
years. The results gave the first quantitative figures to substantiate
what Adventists have long believed—that by adopting healthy lifestyles
individuals could make a difference in how long they lived.
Researchers at Loma Linda
believed that the difference in life expectancy resulted primarily from
not smoking. However, questions were being raised about the role of a vegetarian
lifestyle, exercise, and weight loss.
Using the same life table
analyses used in the 1967 article, researchers published in the June 29,
1989, Adventist Review an article on the lifestyle and life expectancy
of SDAs. The results, based on 26 years of follow-up, revealed the life
expectancy of a 35-year-old SDA male to be 8.9 years longer than an average
California male, and that of a 35-year-old SDA female to be 7.5 years longer.
Researchers found that vegetarian men outlived nonvegetarian men by 3.7
years. Those who exercised outlived others by as much as five years, and
there was a two-year difference in men who were trim versus those who were
at least 20 percent overweight. Such findings substantiated the effectiveness
of the health principles long advocated by the church.
Dr. T. Abelin from Harvard
University noted that the increase in life expectancy observed by SDAs
exceeded all the gains in life expectancy made in the previous 40 years
in this country, including advances in medical skills and knowledge and
in the environment.
So why did God entrust us
with the knowledge of healthful living? Was it so that we could live longer
and better and have fewer diseases? Was it so we could radiate more of
the joy of living? Was it so we could be better examples to others so that
they can enjoy life more? Or was it so we would be more receptive to what
God is trying to communicate to us and what He would like us to do?
| What do I need to change in my lifestyle
to be more receptive to God’s will for me? |
|