Scientists have discovered why "life flashes before our eyes" before death
After analyzing the electroencephalogram of a dying person, a group of scientists found that brain waves emitted before death follow rhythmic patterns similar to the rhythmic patterns that occur during sleep or when entering a state of meditation.
According to the researchers, this could explain why people who have had near-death experiences say that "life has flashed before their eyes."
The results of the work of an international group of scientists are published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
In the article, in particular, by way of illustration, the analysis of the electroencephalogram of an 87-year-old patient who died suddenly of cardiac arrest, just at the moment when the device was recording the activity of his brain, is attached. There you can see that the brain remained "active and coordinated during the transition to death and even after the cessation of blood flow."
According to experts, for the first time they were able to study the behavior of this organ for a few seconds before and after death. And the graphs suggest that the patient "may have had vivid visual memories of his life."
"By generating oscillations associated with memory retrieval, the brain can reproduce the last memories of important life events shortly before death, similar to those told by people who have survived clinical death or near death," one of the group members, Ajmal Zemmar , commented on what he saw.
According to him, this is the first case of measuring brain fluctuations at the time of a person's death:
“These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and raise important follow-up questions [...] What we can learn from this study is that even though loved ones have closed their eyes and are ready to go, their brain can reproduce some of the sweetest moments they have experienced in their life, ”concluded Zemmar.
A new study suggests that life does flash in front of your eyes before you die
Going with a bang instead of a whimper
A new study published by the scientific journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, titled 'Enhanced Interplay of Neuronal Coherence and Coupling in the Dying Human Brain', reveals that the old saying is true: Our brain might replay key moments of our lives as we depart from this world.
The movie of our lives
One could understand that we might see our lives played out in front of our eyes like a movie, according to data collected from the brain scan of a dying person at the exact moment they gave their last breath. Gamma oscillations of the brain in that instance were comparable to moments where we are deeply focused, dreaming, or remembering something.
Flashbacks during near-death experiences
The study points out previous anecdotal evidence of individuals who, after going through Near-Death Experiences, tend to remember flashbacks that have been linked to the brain's oscillatory activity.
A casual finding
This discovery, which collected data of an outburst of gamma activity in a dying brain, occurred by chance. A group of international researchers was following the checkup of an 87-year-old patient with epilepsy. The research team was scanning his brain when he passed away. Before that, they managed to get an image of the final moments of his mind, with a big surprise.
The heart stops, the brain continues
Another scientific finding from this study is that brain activity continues for some 30 seconds after the heart has ceased its functions.
First research done in a person
This is the first time that the brain activity of a person has fully been registered in the minutes before and after passing away. This has been done before, with other species, though the moral implications of these experiments are disputed.
Rats remember
Experiments with rats back up the observation of this test. They, too, show up to 30 seconds of a very high level of brain activity after the heart has stopped.
A legend becomes science
The idea that the brain continues to work after the heart stops have always seemed more fiction than fact. It was always said that the eyes of those who passed through the guillotine would give a final glance after being beheaded. It could be true, given the results of this research.
Looking beyond the veil
Our fascination with life, death, and the line in between have not only generated scientific speculations, but also all sorts of religious and mystical theories and, of course, a good amount of ideas to the realm of fiction. One example is the 1990 movie 'Flatliners', in which a group of young doctors tries to get as close to death as possible, only to have a sneak peek beyond the veil.
Walk into the light
Another common element of those with near-death experiences is their perception of walking towards a guiding light. A study, done with rats by the University of Michigan, attributes this vision to a final explosion of brain activity right at the moment of passing on, the BBC reports.
'The last hurrah'
Psychologist Jason Braithwaite, a professor at Lancaster University, defines that guiding light as the “last hurrah” of a brain before it shuts off forever. The final sunbeam languishing over the horizon.
Bye bye, life
If the brain is going through the key moments of our lives just before expiring, it's comforting to think that it's signing off by remembering some of the most beautiful instants of our existence.
A once-in-a-lifetime study
Yet, it's almost impossible to replicate the study published by Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. Maybe we can do it with animals, but there's an increasing number of moral and legal limitations about that.
The same gamma waves
In short, it's been proven that there's an outburst of brain activity during the moment of our demise, and that such activity has the same gamma waves that we have while reminiscing about our past.
Post-mortem brain activity
Another important finding: The brain continues to function for at least 30 seconds after the last heartbeat. This matches a previous study done with rats.
The last question
In any case, whatever we believe that happens after we shuffle off this mortal coil, no longer belongs to the realm of science. Possibly, individual beliefs can provide a satisfactory answer to that question.
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