Numerous persons who have experienced near-death encounters describe their "life flashed before their eyes." However, it is hard to know whether people experience this occurs regularly when they die, as per PubMed. Clinical death is usually thought to occur when the heart ceases beating, but nothing is known about how soon the brain stays alive or how long brain waves continue to be delivered after this.
Previously, a publication published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience studying a single case study discovered that brain signals persist for 30 seconds after the heart stops pumping.
In a recent study, never-before-done research reveals that 20% of persons who withstand CPR after a cardiac arrest in a hospital report a conscious, heightened sensation once they revive. Scientists from New York University's Grossman School of Medicine evaluated 567 persons who underwent CPR experiencing cardiac arrest following hospitalization in the United States and the United Kingdom between May 2017 and March 2020. One in every five survivors claimed a lucid heightened experience.
Recovering Memories During Near-Death
The findings, presented on Sunday night at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2022 in downtown Chicago, revealed an increase in gamma wave brain activity. Gamma waves are activated when a conscious individual recovers memories and cognitively analyzes information.
As per lead medical examiner Dr. Sam Parnia, patients have previously claimed lucid heightened experiences while near death, but no proof linking the awareness with death has been uncovered. The analysis alters that by demonstrating that the encounters are not hallucinations.
Dr. Parnia, an intensive care physician and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health, emphasized that there have been several intriguing accounts of individuals having lucid, heightened consciousness as they face death. Still, there isn't enough research understanding death from a medical perspective. With a question in their heads, asking if they can uncover proof of such a lucid heightened sense of death and what there are experiences like, as stated in the institution's press release.
According to the new study, a rare lucid heightened body phenomenon occurs during a near-death experience.
ALSO READ: What Happens After Decapitation? Experts Explain How Long Humans Can Live Without A Head
Patients Recalling the Actual Scene of Resuscitation
Electroencephalograms (EEGs) or other equipment were provided to researchers from 25 universities. When emergency responders were alerted to a cardiac arrest, the scientists were also alerted and then could monitor the patient's activity in the brain as the medical team gave life-saving care.
Based on the study, humans recalling a vivid, heightened experience described identical occurrences and themes during the encounter. Many patients described a sensation of separation while the revival was taking place, as the individual had a visual perception of the medical staff doing CPR. Parnia stated in an interview with Newsweek that these persons also knew they had died throughout this event. People were also drawn in by the idea of journeying to a place that seemed like home or somewhere they belonged.
Parnia claims that when patients are resuscitated using CPR several times, they stay in a coma and do not awaken for days or weeks. The timeline might result in many recollections. The study aimed to differentiate between the types of memories produced. But it was a different encounter that drew Parnia's interest.
Inaccessible Realms of Reality
It is a different interpretation of a near-death encounter, and it contradicts how the media portrays a person's death passing before their eyes as they are near death. Parnia stated that one of the most exciting findings is that a person's consciousness does not perish when their body dies. This disinhibition appears to offer access to portions of the brain that get active and witness spikes in EEG activity and access to realms of reality that they would not have had access to otherwise, including full consciousness.
The study, which was consensus both internally and outside, discovered that individuals who underwent resuscitation and remember a lucid heightened experience recovered to ordinary awareness and were endowed with a greater purpose.
They understand the value of their work, families, and whatever else they do at different phases of their lives, but they don't lose sight of their humanity, according to Parnia. They forgot about that perspective until they encountered one such experience, and it became real to them, as the press release concludes.
RELATED ARTICLE: Countless People Claim Near-Death Experiences; Are the Glimpses of Afterlife Just Hallucinations?
Check out more news and information on Near-Death Experiences in Science Times.
