People More Spiritual in Morning, Less While Performing Work-Related Activities

Spiritual awareness varies throughout the day in people. A new study conducted by researchers from the University of Connecticut has revealed that the highest levels of spiritual quotient was reported in the morning when people engage in activities like praying, worship and meditation, while it was found to be lowest when people were doing work-related activities or playing video games. Spiritual awareness was also found to be high when people listened to music, read or exercised. Bradley R.E. Wright, associate professor of sociology and a co-author of the study, said, "What surprised us is how much people vary in awareness of god across the day and across activities. Being at work reduced spiritual awareness. Those who worked the most appeared to have the lowest awareness."

Additionally, the study findings also suggested that the kind of people who watched the news had higher overall spiritual awareness than those who did not. researchers found that there was a complex interplay between spiritual awareness and the situation. Wright said, "Sometimes the situation you are in affects your spiritual awareness. Other times your spiritual awareness affects the situation you are in."

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 2,439 people who were part of the larger SoulPulse study (SoulPulse.org) which collects data using participants' smartphones. This experience sampling method allowed the research team to track spiritual awareness in real time during study participants' normal daily activities. Each daily survey included 15 to 25 randomly selected questions.

The authors said, "Although the participants were socially and geographically diverse, the study group is not a nationally representative sample because it was limited to people who owned a smartphone."

The study will be presented at the 110th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).

Source-IANS