In a recent study, patients claimed to have had a near-death experience after being resuscitated after a cardiac event. Abnormal spikes in brain activity were observed in the survivors.
CPR
The near-death state is characterized by an altered state of consciousness that occurs during the loss of consciousness due to a life-threatening condition.
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During resuscitation, patients reported an experience of being separated from the body and recalled important memories from their past.
Near-death experiences continue to fascinate scientists. One in five cardiopulmonary resuscitations (CPR) survivors can describe lucid experiences while unconscious and on the brink of death, according to a study from NYU Grossman School of Medicine. This work was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Symposium on Resuscitation on November 6, in Chicago.
Spikes in brain activity identified during resuscitation
The study included 567 men and women treated at 25 UK and US hospitals. During their hospitalization, the subjects received cardiopulmonary resuscitation after a cardiac arrest. Despite immediate treatment, only 10% of the patients recovered sufficiently to be discharged from the hospital.
The survivors reported that they had had a near-death experience. In particular, they reported feeling a sense of separation from their bodies and claimed not to have suffered during resuscitation. To the researchers, these reports are different from the hallucinations, delusions, or dreams that can be triggered by resuscitation.
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The researchers also performed covert tests of brain activity on the patients. They found spikes in brain activity up to an hour after resuscitation. Some of the brain waves identified normally occur when a person is conscious and using cognitive functions to think or recall a memory.
Human consciousness does not cease at the moment of death
“These remembered experiences and brainwave changes may be the first signs of what is known as near-death experiences, and we have captured them for the first time in a large study. When the brain shuts down, some of its natural braking systems are released. This phenomenon, known as disinhibition, allows access to the depths of a person’s consciousness, including stored memories, thoughts from childhood to death, and other aspects of reality. While no one knows the evolutionary purpose of this phenomenon, it clearly reveals intriguing questions about human consciousness,” says Sam Parnia, lead researcher on the study and associate professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health.
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The researchers also examined the accounts of 126 people who survived cardiac arrest and reported a near-death experience. “The identification of measurable electrical signals of clearly increased brain activity and similar reports of death experiences suggest that human self-awareness and consciousness, like other biological functions of the body, do not completely cease at the time of death,” says Sam Parnia.
More research is currently needed to define the biomarkers that may interact in a near-death experience and to observe the long-term psychological effects of resuscitation after cardiac arrest.
References
Abstract 236: A Multi-Center Study of Awareness During Resuscitation
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