LONDON: Life after death, at least for a little while, is for real.
British scientists have confirmed such evidence in the first and largest ever medical study carried out on the subject.
Experts currently believe that the brain shuts down within 20 to 30 seconds of the heart stopping beating — and that it is not possible to be aware of anything at all once that has happened.
But scientists in the new study said they heard compelling evidence that patients experienced real events for up to three minutes after this had happened – and could recall them accurately once they had been resuscitated.
Recollections in relation to death, so-called out-of-body experiences (OBEs) or near-death experiences (NDEs), are an often spoken about phenomenon which have frequently been considered hallucinatory or illusory in nature – however, objective studies on these experiences have been limited.
In 2008, a large-scale study involving 2060 patients from 15 hospitals in the UK, US and Austria was launched.
The AWARE (Awareness during Resuscitation) study, sponsored by the University of Southampton in the UK, examined the broad range of mental experiences in relation to death. Researchers also tested the validity of conscious experiences using objective markers for the first time in a large study to determine whether claims of awareness compatible with out-of-body experiences correspond with real or hallucinatory events.
Thirty-nine per cent of patients who survived cardiac arrest and were able to undergo structured interviews described a perception of awareness, but interestingly did not have any explicit recall of events.
Among those who reported a perception of awareness, 46% experienced a broad range of mental recollections in relation to death that were not compatible with the commonly used term of NDE’s.
These included fearful and persecutory experiences.
Only 9% had experiences compatible with NDEs and 2% exhibited full awareness compatible with OBE’s with explicit recall of seeing and hearing events.
The study concludes “In some cases of cardiac arrest, memories of visual awareness compatible with so called out-of-body experiences may correspond with actual events. A higher proportion of people may have vivid death experiences, but do not recall them due to the effects of brain injury or sedative drugs on memory circuits. Widely used yet scientifically imprecise terms such as near-death and out-of-body experiences may not be sufficient to describe the actual experience of death. The recalled experience surrounding death merits a genuine investigation without prejudice.”
Dr Sam Parnia, assistant professor of critical care medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook explained “Contrary to perception, death is not a specific moment but a potentially reversible process that occurs after any severe illness or accident causes the heart, lungs and brain to cease functioning. If attempts are made to reverse this process, it is referred to as cardiac arrest; however, if these attempts do not succeed it is called death. In this study we wanted to go beyond the emotionally charged yet poorly defined term of NDEs to explore objectively what happens when we die.”
“This suggests more people may have mental activity initially but then lose their memories after recovery, either due to the effects of brain injury or sedative drugs on memory recall,” explained Dr Parnia.
One case was validated and timed using auditory stimuli during cardiac arrest. Dr Parnia concluded “This is significant, since it has often been assumed that experiences in relation to death are likely hallucinations or illusions, occurring either before the heart stops or after the heart has been successfully restarted, but not an experience corresponding with ‘real’ events when the heart isn’t beating. In this case, consciousness and awareness appeared to occur during a three-minute period when there was no heartbeat. This is paradoxical, since the brain typically ceases functioning within 20-30 seconds of the heart stopping and doesn’t resume again until the heart has been restarted. Furthermore, the detailed recollections of visual awareness in this case were consistent with verified events”.
“Thus, while it was not possible to absolutely prove the reality or meaning of patients’ experiences and claims of awareness, (due to the very low incidence (2%) of explicit recall of visual awareness or so called OBE’s), it was impossible to disclaim them either and more work is needed in this area. Clearly, the recalled experience surrounding death now merits further genuine investigation without prejudice”.
Several British institutions participated in the study – University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College, University of London, Addenbrookes Hospital, University of Cambridge, Royal Bournemouth Hospital, St Georges Hospital, Northampton General Hospital, Lister Hospital, Mayday Hospital London, James Paget Hospital, East Sussex Hospital and the Ashford & St Peters NHS Trust.
Originally Posted at Times of India
