There are a number of ways in which religion and spirituality have an impact on health
and well-being. Beginning with adolescence, we find that rituals or rites of passage
practiced by many of the major world religions play an important role in assisting
individuals in successfully passing from one phase of life into the next. Most of these
transitions – baptisms, circumcisions, confirmations, coming-of-age rituals, and
marriages – occur early in life. However, what makes these religious traditions relevant
to health, especially in adolescence and early adulthood, is that they provide rules for
living. For example, some religions have very particular rules about diet and alcohol
use, and most faiths have beliefs about maintaining the purity of the body as the vessel
of the soul. In general, religious faiths discourage self-indulgent behaviors and promote
“moderation in all things,” if not actual asceticism. Many spiritual and religious practices,
in fact, involve the temporary and intermittent, or in some cases, lifelong denial of
behaviors that are considered pleasurable by most people, such as drinking, eating
meat, or having sex.