And like alcoholics, if people with a chronic illness don't do what's necessary to address their condition, their disease will profoundly affect their lives, not just physically, but also emotionally and psychologically. Another aspect is that people with chronic illness are subject to enormous emotional strain, and a spiritual program, such as the 12 steps, which has been proven to help address the emotional strain felt by persons with substance abuse problems, can also address those problems being experienced by people with chronic illness. As I said previously, the 12 steps are fundamentally a guide to living well. And in fact, a growing body of evidence suggests that spirituality actually helps people stay healthy, and recover from illness. Metabolism, heart rate, and rate of breathing decrease.
Brain waves slow down.
These changes are the opposite of those induced by stress and are an effective therapy for certain diseases, especially those chronic in nature. Significantly, many doctors believe that because stress worsens a disease, a spiritual program that involves prayer and meditation is an effective component for treatment. Although skeptics still question whether the chronically ill person who is spiritual is more likely to benefit medically than someone who is not spiritual, of this there is no doubt. Spirituality helps the chronically ill people cope with the medical challenges of their condition. We've covered the theory a bit.