Do This Once a Week. You'll Live Longer If you want to live longer, start waking up earlier on Sunday morning and go to church. Faithfully attending church once a week could add years to your life, report LiveScience.com and the BBC News of a study from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Led by Dr. Daniel Hall, who is both a medical resident and an Episcopal priest, the team examined how three specific activities could enhance longevity: a.. exercise b.. taking anti-cholesterol drugs c.. religious attendance Using age-dependent death-rate statistics, all three were found to be beneficial, although the first two were long ago proven as life-extenders. The surprise finding was church attendance, which added two to three years of life on average. Regular physical exercise added an extra three to five years to life, while cholesterol-reducing drugs chalked up an additional 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 years. Why does church increase longevity? Hall credits it not to faith, but to the benefits of a strong social network. "There is something about being knit into the type of community that religious communities embody that has a way of mediating a positive health effect," he told LiveScience. In addition, he suspects an active religious life reduces stress and helps people to cope when there is stress. "Being in a religious community helps you make meaning out of your life," he added. But there is a cost in dollars and cents to all three methods of extending longevity. Hall computed the cost of average gym fees for regular exercise, medical costs for cholesterol-lowering medication and household donations to religious institutions. The approximate cost per life-year gained was: a.. $2,000 to $6,000 for regular exercise b.. $3,000 to $10,000 for regular religious attendance c.. $4,000 and $14,000 for cholesterol-lowering drugs. The study findings were published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.