Can religious rituals help reduce stress hormones?
Many religious rituals, like prayer, meditation, and yoga, can lower stress hormones such as cortisol. These practices calm the body’s stress response by balancing hormones and easing the mind.
Stress happens when the body releases cortisol through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis. This is the system’s way of handling threats, but too much cortisol over time harms health, like weakening the immune system or raising heart risks. Religious rituals often act like a brake on this process. For example, meditation tied to spiritual practices normalizes HPA activity and cuts cortisol levels. A review of studies found that mindfulness meditation, common in many faiths, led to clear drops in cortisol measured in saliva and blood after regular use.https://www.medreport.foundation/post/meditation-as-a-nonpharmacologic-intervention-for-stress-reduction-a-review-of-current-evidence
Prayer and spiritual retreats also help. Research shows these activities boost brain function and build white matter, which aids emotion control during stress. People who pray or join retreats report less stress and better coping through feelings of forgiveness and compassion. One brain scan study saw spiritual practices weaken stress reactions in the mind, much like mindfulness does.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12731188/
Yoga nidra, a relaxing ritual from yoga traditions, directly lowers cortisol and eases anxiety. It shifts the body to a rest state, cutting blood pressure too. Compassion meditations, often part of religious routines, deactivate harsh self-thoughts and let the rest-and-digest system take over.https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.70149https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/learn/can-mindfulness-practices-help-lower-chronic-cortisol-levels/
These rituals also fight inflammation linked to stress. High cortisol raises markers like IL-6 and CRP, but practices such as breath-focused prayer or yoga bring them down. Spiritual engagement gives people tools to handle tough times, like illness or hardship, with less hormone surge.
Not every study agrees on results for all groups. One look at war stress found religious habits sometimes heightened distress in women, showing effects can vary by person and situation.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10508619.2025.2605369?mi=h0fbk8
Sources
https://www.medreport.foundation/post/meditation-as-a-nonpharmacologic-intervention-for-stress-reduction-a-review-of-current-evidence
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12731188/
https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/learn/can-mindfulness-practices-help-lower-chronic-cortisol-levels/
https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.70149
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10508619.2025.2605369?mi=h0fbk8
