Patients near death may enter a ‘new dimension of reality’

People who go through a near-death experience (NDE) may be entering ‘new dimensions of reality’, according to a study of cardiac arrest patients.

NDEs have long been reported, often said to be a perception of separation from the body, observing events without pain or distress, and a meaningful evaluation of a person’s actions and relationships. They are noted consistently across the world, indicating NDEs are not a cultural phenomenon.

The latest study, following men and women who suffered cardiac arrests while in hospital, found 11% of those who survived reported memories or perceptions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) that suggests they were conscious.

In addition, from a subset of 85 patients who received brain monitoring during CPR, nearly 40% had brain activity that returned to normal, or nearly normal, from a ‘flatline’ state, even an hour into CPR. 

Electroencephalogram (EEG) readings, measuring brain activity using electrodes attached to the head, recorded spikes in the gamma, delta, theta, alpha, and beta waves associated with higher mental function.

The authors suggested that as it is dying, the brain removes natural braking systems, which may open access to ‘new dimensions of reality’, including lucid recall of all stored memories from early childhood to death, evaluated from the perspective of morality – in other words, their life flashes before their eyes’.

While scientists have yet to understand an evolutionary purpose for this event, the authors say it ‘opens the door to a systematic exploration of what happens when a person dies’.

‘Although doctors have long thought that the brain suffers permanent damage about 10 minutes after the heart stops supplying it with oxygen, our work found that the brain can show signs of electrical recovery long into ongoing CPR,’ said senior study author Dr Sam Parnia, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at New York University. 

‘This is the first large study to show that these recollections and brain wave changes may be signs of universal, shared elements of so-called near-death experiences.

‘These experiences provide a glimpse into a real, yet little understood, dimension of human consciousness that becomes uncovered with death. The findings may also guide the design of new ways to restart the heart or prevent brain injuries and hold implications for transplantation.’

The study, in cooperation with 25 mostly US and British hospitals, analysed 567 patients, of whom 53 – 9.3% – survived.

Additional testimony from 126 community survivors of cardiac arrest with self-reported memories was also examined to provide greater understanding of the themes related to the recalled experience of death.

The study is published in the journal Resuscitation.

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