Religiosity, spiritual practices, and epigenetic aging: Insights from a population-based sample of middle-aged US adults

OBJECTIVES: Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) are considered protective factors linked to extended longevity and optimal physiological health, but how these influences manifest remains unclear. Growing evidence suggests that the impact of R/S may be observable at the cellular level. This study aimed to investigate whether multiple dimensions of R/S were significantly associated with slower biological aging processes through changes in DNA methylation patterns. METHODS: Participant data were taken from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study (N = 1310). R/S measures included spirituality, religious centrality, religious/spiritual coping, private religious practices, and daily spiritual experiences. Two epigenetic clocks (DNA methylation-based indicators) - GrimAge2 and DunedinPACE - were assessed as separate outcome variables using multivariable linear regression analyses. Models controlled for race/ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, education, household income, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: In models adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, all dimensions of R/S were significantly associated with slower epigenetic age acceleration as measured by GrimAge2, and greater spirituality, religious/spiritual coping, and daily spiritual experiences were similarly associated with a slower pace of aging vis-à-vis DunedinPACE. However, after accounting for smoking status, alcohol consumption, and BMI, only the association between religious/spiritual coping and DunedinPACE remained statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Several dimensions of R/S appeared to offer biomolecular advantages linked with aging processes. Future research should seek to investigate additional measures of R/S and explore how these psychosocial resources directly influence cellular-level biological mechanisms.