It is also likely that their healthy lifestyle (which includes very little alcohol or tobacco) is a contributing factor.
Furthermore, the Amish have suicide rates that are far lower (one third) the rate of non-religious people and 50% lower than other religious people.
In some cases, however, electricity is permitted to warm homes.
This electricity is supplied by the community itself via simple devices such as windmills.
They refuse to undertake any form of genetic testing prior to marriage which would ensure that they were sufficiently unrelated to their potential spouse.
If you are one of the lucky Amish who hasn’t been born with a genetic mutation or disease (and you actually survived childbirth) – you have the benefit of reduced rates of cancer which may be attributed to their distinctive garb which includes head coverings.
Rumspringa or “the Amish get out of jail free” card is the Amish term for adolescence.
During this time young adults are most likely to be rebellious against their community and consequently they are treated more leniently so as to not push the youths away.
The Ordnung (order) is the set of rules for each Amish community. Because the Amish believe in a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible these rules are created in order to keep their members in line with the laws therein.
The length of clothing, like dresses, is strictly governed by the Ordnung of the community.
Not all the Amish are the same – as in most protestant religions there are divisions within the group, each following their own variations on the rules.
Sometimes the divisions can be over very trivial matters – for example the Troyer Amish split over a dispute about hat brims.
These differences in beliefs can often lead to bizarre forms of violence.