What happens to the brain at the time of death

People who were on the verge of life and death, always talk about the same thing: a person slips through the dark tunnel to bright light at the end, it is a sense of absolute peace and happiness, he could hear soft music, soft light enveloped him from all sides. people often describe their way out of the body: they see themselves from the outside and feel a sense of soaring.

Get near-death experience (near-death experience, NDE) sincerely believe in the reality of their experiences and use them as proof of the existence of the soul and life after death. But neuroscientists believe that all NDE effects are due to the work of a dying brain.

What happens to the brain after cardiac arrest

Using electrodes podsazhennye in the patient's brain, neuroscientists have discoveredTerminal spreading depolarization and electrical silence in death of human cerebral cortexThat even after the cessation of heartbeat nerve cells of the brain continue to function.

Death marks the last wave of electrical activity in the brain. This wave begins after 2-5 minutes after the brain ceases to enter the blood, oxygenated, and displays dangerous neural changes, which lead to irreversible damage.

A short burst of activity as found in the earlier studySurges of electroencephalogram activity at the time of death: a case series.. Scientists conducted electroencephalography (EEG) from people dying and found that after the loss of blood pressure should be a temporary peak of activity, which is characteristic for staying awake. Scientists have suggested that it is associated with neuronal depolarization due to hypoxia - lack of oxygen. It is also suggested that the people who have passed through a near death experience, could get his mystical experience at this very moment.

However, the effects of NDE experience not only in anticipation of death. Similar conditions can be felt, and without danger to life.

When you can experience the effects of near-death experiences

A recent study foundDMT Models the Near-Death ExperienceThat the near-death experience can be experienced in using psychedelics.

The experiment was divided into two parts: one participants took psychedelic dimetiltriptomin (DMT), and the other - a placebo. After completing the trip test subjects completed questionnaires NDE Scale, created with the help of people who survived the near-death experience.

It turned out that after taking the DMT study participants experienced the same effects as the people on the brink Death: a sense of dissolution, the mystical experience of unity with the environment and those of its fills.

According to another studyFeatures of «near-death experience» in relation to whether or not patients were near death.Only 51.7% of patients experiencing NDE on the verge of death. Of the 58 participants with the near-death experience, only 28 really might die without the intervention of doctors. The remaining 30 had no serious threat to life, but still survived all the effects of near-death experience.

What causes the effects of near-death experiences

The realization of his own death

One of the most common experiences - awareness of his own death. However, this feeling is experienced and people living with the syndrome of Cotard (walking corpse syndrome).

A striking example - the caseAttributional style in a case of Cotard delusion. 24-year-old patient's hospital in London. She believed that died from cold and is in heaven. A few days later mania began to subside, and then disappeared altogether.

This syndrome is associated with the violation of the parietal lobe and the prefrontal cortex function of the brain. He observed after head injuries during the advanced stages of typhoid and multiple sclerosis.

Light at the end of the tunnel

This experience is also often referred to in describing the near-death experience. Experiencing similar feelings and real people. During overloads pilots greatly reduced blood pressure and hypotensive syncope can happen, which is accompanied by a temporary depressionDirect determination of man's blood pressure on the human centrifuge during positive acceleration. peripheral vision. Within 5-8 seconds the pilots observed the same dark tunnel as the NDE people all the time.

There is an assumption that there is a tunnelOut-of-body experience and arousal. due to impaired blood supply to the retina. This condition is typical of extreme fear and hypoxia, which, in principle, is close to dying.

Out body

There is an assumption that for an experience responsible angular gyrus. In one experiment,Stimulating illusory own-body perceptions. We found that the stimulation of this area causes a feeling of transformation of the hands and feet of the subjects (response somatosensory cortex) and moving the whole body (the response of the vestibular system).

Scientists have concluded that out of body experience may occur due to the distortion of information from the somatosensory cortex and the vestibular system.

Also OBE experience feelings characteristic of the state on the border of sleep and wakefulness - gipnagogii and sleep paralysisThe body unbound: vestibular-motor hallucinations and out-of-body experiences.. In this state, a person can see hallucinations, to be awake, unable to move, and feel a sense of the guy next to her body.

Happiness and prosperity

Near-death experience is usually accompanied by a state of euphoria and calmness. The same effect can be obtained from the reception of certain drugs, such as ketamine. This facility is associated with opioid mu receptor and induces a state of euphoria, dissociation, Spiritual Communities experiences and hallucinations.

Scientists believe that during the NDE is activated opioid reward system designed to dampen the pain, and the release of endorphins are creating a positive impression.

There is also a theory that in the euphoria not thank noradrenalineThere is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences: how neuroscience can explain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them. and blue stain - part of the brain responsible for the release of this hormone.

Norepinephrine is involved in the initiation of human fear, stress and hypercapnia - excessive amounts of CO₂ in the blood, so it may well be released in the near-death state.

Blue spot due to the structures of the brain responsible for emotion (amygdala) and memory (hippocampus), the answer to fear and opioid analgesia (periaqueductal gray), the dopamine reward system (ventral area tires). Scientists believe that noradrenaline system may be associated with positive emotions, hallucinations and other effects of near-death experience.

Life Before Her Eyes

In the near-death state, people often see the sequence of events of his own life. In his book "- We are our brains. From the womb to Alzheimer's"Dick Swaab argues that people experience events of the past due to the activation of the medial temporal lobe. This structure is involved in the storage of episodic autobiographical memories and is very sensitive to lack of oxygen, so it is easy to activate.

StudyNear-Death Experiences and the Temporal Lobe in 2004, Britton confirmed that people who survived a near-death state, changing the activity in the temporal lobe.

Meeting with the dead

Many scholars believe that the near-death experience of a person held in an intermediate state between sleep and wakefulness, and for all the mystical images and hallucinations responsible REM phase of sleep.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers examinedDoes the arousal system contribute to near death experience? 55 people who survived the near-death experience. It turned out that these people were more susceptible to the sleepy paralysis and related visual and auditory hallucinations. Scientists have suggested that the danger of such a state people are more inclined to dive into REM sleep, which is why they have vivid memories of the near-death experience.

In addition, hallucinations characteristic of some brain damage. For example, patients with Alzheimer's disease or progressive Parkinson's disease sometimes talk about ghosts or monsters, and after surgical operations on the brain, some patients see dead relatives.

Is there life after death

Despite all the research and scientific theories, scientists do not have enough evidence to say that the near-death experience due to exceptionally brain activity. On the other hand, people have to prove the existence of the soul and life after death, there are no scientific proofs.

Something to believe in: life after death, their religion, oneness with the universe, or the activity of a dying brain - you decide.