2024-01-17 18:00:41
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What happens when you die? Does life happen “like in a movie”? A study provides new insights. (Symbolic image) © kentoh/IMAGO
Whether life actually plays out like a film before your eyes shortly before death remains a mystery. A tragic coincidence now provides new insights.
Munich – Nobody knows what exactly happens when someone dies. People who have had a near-death experience report different phenomena. Some saw a white, warm light at the end of a tunnel. Others experienced a deep feeling of happiness or even panic. Many described how their lives flashed back before their eyes “like a film.”
Editor’s note
This text has already appeared in the past. Many readers were particularly interested in it. That’s why we’re offering it again.
Death: Does the “film of life” start beforehand? Study results surprising
The strange thing is that, from a medical perspective, these experiences cannot actually exist. According to the online knowledge magazine “scinexx”, brain activity ends a few seconds after a cardiac arrest. After 20 seconds, a zero line appears on the electroencephalography (EEG).
Since doctors in this situation are usually busy bringing the dying person back to life through resuscitation, there is hardly any neurological or neuropsychological data on the transition phase between life and death. It’s completely different when it comes to sleeping: A study has already amazed us with its findings about what we think during our night’s rest. Thanks to a tragic coincidence, scientists were now able to observe the processes in the brain of a dying person.
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What happens in the brain while dying? Tragic coincidence provides insight
What could already be seen in laboratory experiments with rats was now shown in an 87-year-old patient in Estonia. After a fall, he was admitted to Tartu University Hospital. Due to his epilepsy, the attending physician connected him to a continuous EEG for control and monitoring. When he finally died of a heart attack a short time later, his brain activity continued to be recorded. This allowed doctors to see for the first time what exactly happens in the brain in this state.
Scientists evaluate brain waves as people die
The recordings were then evaluated at the University of Louisville in the US state of Kentucky by a research team led by neurosurgeon Ajmal Zemmar and published as a study in the specialist journal “Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience”. As the scientist explained to Frontier Science News, 900 seconds of brain activity could be measured around the time of death. The research team was particularly interested in the 30 seconds before and after death. Through this medical sensation* they discovered changes in brain waves.
Memories shortly before death: measurement of brain activity is astonishing
The results of the evaluations of the neuronal oscillations were astonishing. Both 30 seconds before and after cardiac arrest, the brain is running at full speed and is in a similar state to that of highly cognitive processes such as conscious perception, concentration, meditation, memory retrieval and the processing of information. For Zemmar, there are many indications that the brain could remain active, even while dying. Thus, the dying person could actually have recalled memories during this period and his life could have played out like a film before his eyes.
However, the researcher was unable to say whether a person tends to remember good or bad moments in their life during this transition phase. And no general statements are possible because the patient suffered from seizures and epileptic seizures. Another study showed that not only increased alcohol consumption can lead to earlier death, but also complete abstinence. *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. It in no way replaces a visit to the doctor. Unfortunately, our editors are not allowed to answer individual questions about medical conditions.
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