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Jul 28, 2022 · Scientists have studied near-death experiences (NDEs) in an attempt to gain insights into how death overcomes the brain. What they’ve found is remarkable: A surge of electricity enters the...
- Overview
- Accidental discovery
- Near-death experiences may correlate with brain processes
•What happens to the brain at the point of death has been a subject of debate for some time.
•Some people who have had near-death experiences report a phenomenon of their “life flashing before their eyes.”
•In 2016, some doctors accidentally recorded a dying man’s brain activity — he had a cardiac arrest while undergoing a brain scan.
•The brain signals recorded just before and after the heart stopped are similar to those that people experience when recalling memories and those recorded at the point of death in rats.
Many people who have had near-death experiences report that their “life flashed before their eyes.” However, of course, it is impossible to determine if people experience this phenomenon routinely when they die.
Health experts commonly consider that clinical death occurs at the moment the heart stops beating, but little is known about how long the brain remains alive or at least how long brain signals continue to be sent after this.
In the paper, researchers outline how an 87-year-old male patient attended a hospital in Vancouver, Canada, in 2016 after a fall caused a brain bleed. He underwent an operation to treat the brain bleed, but he started experiencing seizures 2 days later.
Healthcare professionals administered the anti-epileptic drugs phenytoin and levetiracetam to treat his seizures, and he underwent an EEG to determine their cause. While he was receiving the EEG, at least 12 separate electrographic seizures were observable.
The patient then experienced a cardiac arrest, and after consultation with his family, who explained he had a “do not resuscitate” order, his healthcare team stopped treatment. However, they recorded a total of 900 seconds of EEG data.
Researchers observed that brain activity ceased across the brain shortly after the seizures, which was followed by a 30-second increase in oscillatory activity with relatively high gamma-type brain signals before cardiac arrest. This activity then declined for about 30 seconds after cardiac arrest before stopping completely.
Author and neurosurgeon Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, now a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, organized the study. He told MNT in an interview:
“Our study is the first ever to show that these oscillatory waves are present in the dying human brain, which may provide a neurophysiological substance, a brain signal form, for what we call near-death experiences.”
The study opens up the question of “when are we really dead?” he said, as their research had shown brain activity after the heart had stopped working.
However, the study authors explain that findings from a single case study are not generalizable. They also have no comparable brain activity for this patient, as he went into the scanner experiencing brain seizures. They also noted that he had received drugs that can alter brain activity and was generally unwell.
The researchers held off publishing the data until they could find other comparative data.
A literature search threw up a 2013 paper that appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. It demonstrated that similar oscillatory gamma waves occurred in rats in the 30 seconds after cardiac arrest, and they were observable in this patient.
In the paper, the researchers present evidence that these brain signals have correlations with memory recall.
Health experts could determine whether or not these brain waves explain near-death experiences if we knew where in the brain they occurred and were backed up with more case studies, said neurotheologian Prof. Andrew Newberg.
- Hannah Flynn
Major study shows mind still works after the body shows no sign of life. Death just became even more scary: scientists say people are aware they’re dead because their consciousness continues to...
- 29 sec
- David Maclean
Jul 18, 2019 · But since humans are instinctive dualists, the idea of life after death makes complete sense to our intuitions. And that’s not the only reason why the belief comes so naturally to people. Death...
We all will die one day. We all know the life is difficult. We may live long lives, but death will come sooner or later for everyone. It is inevitable. Why should we bother living at all, facing the difficulties that it offers, if it is simply going to end one day.
Sep 21, 2023 · Death is inevitable. Given how universal, absolute, and terrifying death is, it’s no wonder humans have been talking and writing about it for millennia. Here we explore how several Big Think...
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