State of the Bible: Reading Scripture better self-care than exercise, friend-time

By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press:

Published July 11, 2025

PHILADELPHIA (BP) – Reading the Bible has better self-care outcomes than exercising, meditating or spending time with friends, the American Bible Society (ABS) said in the latest release of its 15th annual State of the Bible.

In drawing their conclusions, researchers considered how the common self-care activities of exercising, spending time with a friend, volunteering in one’s community, meditating and praying to God impact stress, anxiety, loneliness and hope, compared to how Scripture reading impacts such feelings.

While Scripture-engaged individuals participated in all of the common self-care activities — except exercise — more frequently than non-Scripture-engaged individuals, researchers found a positive impact on stress, anxiety, loneliness and hope from Bible reading, the ABS said in releasing its findings.

“Our research confirms that all the things that people do to improve their general well-being — exercise, seeing friends, and so on — are statistically associated with fuller lives. So is Bible reading,” John Plake, ABS chief innovation officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible series. “In fact, the Bible’s connection to lower stress, anxiety, and loneliness is stronger than that of meditation, spending time with a friend or even exercise.”

Results were judged on a scale of 0–40 for stress, 0–20 for anxiety, and 5-20 for loneliness, with lower numbers better; and 3-24 for hope, with higher numbers better. As such, those who read the Bible weekly or more experienced stress levels of 8, compared to 9.6 for those who didn’t read Scripture; anxiety registered 4.3 among readers compared to 4.8 for non-readers; those who read the Bible at least weekly registered 11.1 in loneliness, compared to 11.8 among non-readers; and readers registered 18.6 on the hope scale, compared to 16.8 for non-readers.

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