By James Lewis
“Under certain unfamiliar and confusing circumstances – like near-death, the brain becomes over-stimulated and hyper-excited.” – Dr. Jason Braithwaite, University of Birmingham
From bright white light to out-of-body sensations and feelings of life flashing before your eyes; these vivid experiences are among a few that have been reported throughout human history described by near-death survivors and now according to scientists a surge of electrical activity in the brain could be the likely cause of this phenomenon.
Studying this phenomenon is a challenge and therefore understanding these experiences is quite limited. As a result, to find out more, scientists at the University of Michigan monitored nine rats as they were dying.
The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The lead author of the study was Dr. Jimo Borjigin, of the University of Michigan. The study found high levels of brainwaves at the point of the animals’ demise. US researchers have said that in humans, this could give rise to heightened state of consciousness.
It was in a 30 second period after the animal’s hearts stopped beating; they measured a sharp increase in high-frequency brainwaves called gamma oscillations. These pulses are one of the neuronal features that are thought to underpin consciousness in humans, especially when they help to “link” information from different parts of the brain. Dr. Borjigin said it was feasible that the same thing would happen in the human brain, and that an elevated level of brain activity and consciousness could give rise to near-death visions.
“This can give us a framework to begin to explain these. The fact they see light perhaps indicates the visual cortex in the brain is highly activated – and we have evidence to suggest this might be the case, because we have seen increased gamma in area of the brain that is right on top of the visual cortex.” She said. However, she said confirming the findings, a study would have to be carried out on humans who have experienced clinical death and have been revived.
Commenting on the research, Dr. Jason Braithwaite, of the University of Birmingham, has said that it appears that it is the brain’s “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 over-stimulated and hyper-excited, he said. It is “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.” But he added; “One limitation is that we do not know when, in time, the near-death experience really occurs.
Perhaps it was before patients had anaesthesia, or at some safe point during an operation long before cardiac arrest. However, for those instances where experiences may occur around the time of cardiac arrest – or beyond it – these new findings provide further meat to the bones of the idea that the brain drives these fascinating and striking experiences”.
Dr. Chris Chambers, of Cardiff University, said: “This is an interesting and well conducted piece of research. We know precious little about brain activity during death, let alone conscious brain activity. These findings open the door to further studies in humans. [But] we should be extremely cautious before drawing any conclusions about human near-death experiences’ it is one thing to measure brain activity in rats during cardiac arrest, and quite another to relate that to human experience.”
So what is your opinion on near-death experiences? Do you agree or disagree? Have you or someone you know had a near-death experience. Let us know, we would love to hear from you.
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