We'll also walk with the restless souls floating around our cemeteries and talk with the ancestors.
As medical science progresses and we are able to bring people back from death’s door more frequently, there has been a rise in reported near-death experiences – a bright light at the end of a tunnel, out-of-body experiences and conversations with divine beings. But for the most part, investigations into such experiences have been avoided by major scientific journals.
However, new research by the University of Michigan has found that near-death experiences in heart attack survivors may be grounded in science – or, more specifically, a surge of electrical charge in the dying brain.
The crux of the issue: Can a dying brain display conscious activity? The team, led by Dr Jimo Borjigin, associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology and neurology at the university’s medical school, found that yes, it can – even after the heart stops beating and blood no longer flows to the brain.
The University of Michigan study said that about 20% of cardiac arrest survivors reported having near-death experiences during clinical death, which is when the heart stops and blood flow to the brain ceases.
Identifiable
“This study, performed in animals, is the first dealing with what happens to the neurological state of the dying brain,” Borjigin said.
“We reasoned that, if near-death experience stems from brain activity, neural [markers] of consciousness should be identifiable in humans or animals even after the cessation of cerebral blood flow.”
Researchers induced cardiac arrest in nine anaesthetised rats and found that, within 30 seconds of their hearts stopping, the rats experienced a passing surge in brain activity that exceeded some of the levels found when they were in a conscious state. The same results were observed in rats undergoing asphyxiation.
This activity was observed using electroencephalograms, a recording of the brain’s electrical activity.
“We were surprised by the high levels of activity,” said senior study author George Mashour, assistant professor of anaesthesiology and neurosurgery at the University of Michigan.
“In fact, at near-death, many known electrical signatures of consciousness exceeded levels found in the waking state, suggesting that the brain is capable of well-organised electrical activity during the early stage of clinical death.”
'Last hurrah'
The University of Birmingham’s Dr Jason Braithwaite told the BBC earlier this week that this electrical surge in a dying brain appeared to be its “last hurrah”.
“This is a very neat demonstration of an idea that’s been around for a long time: that under certain unfamiliar and confusing circumstances – like near-death – the brain becomes overstimulated and hyperexcited,” he said.
“Like ‘fire raging through the brain’, activity can surge through brain areas involved in conscious experience, furnishing all resultant perceptions with realer-than-real feelings and emotions.”
The study provided the first scientific framework for the near-death experiences reported by many cardiac arrest survivors, Borjigin said.