One in five patients who undergo CPR describe having vivid dreams about dying even when they appear to be asleep and about to pass away.
There is a difference between lucid experiences and hallucinations, dreams, illusions, and delusions. Researchers discovered that during these experiences, the brain exhibits increased activity and lucidity signs. This suggests that, like other biological processes, the human sense of self may not end with death.
The study was conducted between May 2017 and March 2020 in the United States and the United Kingdom and involved 567 men and women whose hearts stopped beating while they were hospitalised and who got CPR. It was led by researchers at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and other institutions. Less than 10% of patients healed despite prompt therapy.
An examination of life, including one's acts, intentions, and attitudes toward others, as well as a perception of separation from the body were among the unusual lucid experiences that survivors described. These experiences of death, according to the researchers, are distinct from hallucinations, delusions, illusions, dreams, or awareness brought on by CPR.
Tests for undetected brain activity were also part of the project. A significant finding was the identification of spikes in brain activity up to one hour into CPR, including so-called gamma, delta, theta, alpha, and beta waves. When humans are conscious and engaged in higher-order mental activities including reasoning, memory retrieval, and conscious perception, some of these brain waves naturally take place.
"Our findings provide evidence that individuals have a distinct inner conscious experience, including awareness without distress, while they are on the verge of passing away and in a coma."
Along with similar accounts of remembered death experiences, the discovery of electrically measurable indicators of lucid and increased brain activity raises the possibility that, like other biological body functions, human consciousness and sense of self may not cease entirely at the moment of death, continues Parnia.
