Hello, reddit! I am Tyler VanderWeele, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and I study the mechanisms by which religion and spirituality affect health outcomes. A recent study I led found that women who attended religious services more than once per week were more than 30% less likely to die during a 16-year-follow-up than women who never attended. We found that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on life. You can read the study here. Another recent study found that women attending church services at least weekly were at five-fold lower risk for suicide, with an even larger effect for Catholics. You can read that study here. More information about the Harvard programs supporting this research can be found here and here. EDIT: Hi everyone, it’s 11:00 a.m. ET and I’m here to answer your questions! And a reminder that we’ve posted the links to the full studies above. EDIT 2: It’s 1:20 p.m. ET and unfortunately I have to sign-off. Thank you for all your great questions!