Scientific study on Near Death Experiences

[beej]

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lucid-dying-patients-recall-death-experiences-during-cpr-301669519.html

NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- One in five people who survive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after cardiac arrest may describe lucid experiences of death that occurred while they were seemingly unconscious and on the brink of death, a new study shows.

Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and elsewhere, the study involved 567 men and women whose hearts stopped beating while hospitalized and who received CPR between May 2017 and March 2020 in the United States and United Kingdom. Despite immediate treatment, fewer than 10% recovered sufficiently to be discharged from hospital.

Survivors reported having unique lucid experiences, including a perception of separation from the body, observing events without pain or distress, and a meaningful evaluation of life, including of their actions, intentions and thoughts toward others. The researchers found these experiences of death to be different from hallucinations, delusions, illusions, dreams or CPR-induced consciousness.

The work also included tests for hidden brain activity. A key finding was the discovery of spikes of brain activity, including so-called gamma, delta, theta, alpha and beta waves up to an hour into CPR. Some of these brain waves normally occur when people are conscious and performing higher mental functions, including thinking, memory retrieval, and conscious perception.

"These recalled experiences and brain wave changes may be the first signs of the so-called near-death experience, and we have captured them for the first time in a large study," says Sam Parnia, MD, PhD, the lead study investigator and an intensive care physician, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health, as well as the organization's director of critical care and resuscitation research."Our results offer evidence that while on the brink of death and in a coma, people undergo a unique inner conscious experience, including awareness without distress."

Identifying measureable electrical signs of lucid and heightened brain activity, together with similar stories of recalled death experiences, suggests that the human sense of self and consciousness, much like other biological body functions, may not stop completely around the time of death, adds Parnia.

"These lucid experiences cannot be considered a trick of a disordered or dying brain, but rather a unique human experience that emerges on the brink death," says Parnia. As the brain is shutting down, many of its natural braking systems are released. Known as disinhibition, this provides access to the depths of a person's consciousness, including stored memories, thoughts from early 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, even at death," says Parnia.

The study authors conclude that although studies to date have not been able to absolutely prove the reality or meaning of patients' experiences and claims of awareness in relation to death, it has been impossible to disclaim them either. They say recalled experience surrounding death now merits further genuine empirical investigation without prejudice.

I had a near death experience that was somewhat similar when I was 20 years old. It changed me forever. I almost drowned in a river. I was fortunate enough to have been in the company (unbeknownst to me) of a former lifeguard. He performed CPR on me. When I was drowning, I got to the point where I could no longer move my arms or legs, but my mind was lucid. My life started playing like a movie reel in front of me and all I saw were people I had hurt, made fun of, and bullied. Knowing I was dying, and convinced that I was going to Hell after seeing that, I prayed to a God that I wasn't sure I believed in. My prayer was, No God, Not now! Not this way! I thought that I remembered the guy's arm grab me, but He the people around me said that I was not breathing, when he pulled me out and got me to shore.  I had many dreams about that incident afterward in the dreams, I was watching myself drown in 3rd person and I could hear my prayer, but in the dream it was God who saved me, rather than the man. That near death experience is what changed how I respond to people, and  my faith in God.

Who knows it might have been electric impulses firing sporadically, but it felt like a miracle to have almost drowned in the presence of a former lifeguard in a lonely section of river with some redneck school buddies and 1 former lifeguard.

[Del.]

Thanks for sharing.

[CNCAppsJames]

...
Who knows it might have been electric impulses firing sporadically, but it felt like a miracle to have almost drowned in the presence of a former lifeguard in a lonely section of river with some redneck school buddies and 1 former lifeguard.

Some people no matter what will never believe and nothing any of us say will change that.... sadly.

[beej]

I had a friend who had a near death experience as well,(car wreck-- coded in the ER) his life also played before him, similar to what I saw but in his vision he only saw good times and people he loved. I saw only my own failures and I could see the hurt I had caused on people's faces.

[mowens]

With all of our vast scientific knowledge about the universe we only understand about 5% the matter that comprises it. The rest is made up of dark matter and dark energy of which know virtually nothing.  There are too many unknowns in the universe to speak in absolutes about these kinds of things.