In a study that spanned a decade and included more than 1,800 patients, researchers have concluded that prayer is not effective in speeding recovery after surgery. This is big news for those who have relied on prayer as legitimate aspect of complementary and alternative medicine.

The study, which was scheduled to run in this week's addition of the American Heart Journal (but was published online late last week), found that prayer was not only ineffective in helping post-operative recovery, but it also had a detrimental affect on patients. Those who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms. Researches attribute this to the expectations the prayers created.