Belief in God confers Health Benefits?

A study pulished in News Medical reports that researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in collaboration with a  large Norwegian longitudinal health study called HUNT,  have found out and proven a a clear relationship between time spent in church and lower blood pressure in both women and men.

For this study, church attendance was selected as a variable to represent religious activity, and blood pressure was selected as a variable that gives an indication of overall health with respect to a variety of diseases and conditions. The study found that the variable used to measure religious activities (church time) had a significant relationship to the variable used to measure health (blood pressure). In other words, those who were religiously active were healthier than those who were not religiously active.

Torgeir Sørensen, a PhD candidate from the School of Theology and Religious Psychology Centre at Sykehuset Innlandet (Inland Hospital) also claimed that since this study was conducted only on Christian men and women and the activity of "visiting a church" was measured , therefore nothing can be said on whether the theory is applicable for other religions as well or not (including Islam nd Judaism). 

Read full research here