Even though we are not very happy with this situation, we know that one day all of our lives will end. And we can only guess about what awaits us in those final moments and beyond. But over the past few years, researchers have uncovered some fascinating insights into what happens in our brains as we take our last breath, providing interesting insights into the experience of death.
For example, in February 2022, scientists recorded by chance the brain activity of an 87-year-old man who died of a heart attack. Before this fatal moment, the patient was connected to a device that constantly monitored his brain waves as part of his epilepsy treatment, and electroencephalography (EEG) recordings obtained from the moment of death allowed researchers to obtain unexpected information about what happens when we cross the threshold of death.
Surprisingly, the EEG showed that brain activity patterns associated with dreaming and memory retrieval are activated as soon as our heart stops beating and persist for a period of time. While it’s impossible to draw a definitive conclusion from this information alone, brain activity related to memory and recall may suggest that our lives truly flash before our eyes when we die.
This possibility was further strengthened by the results of a later study involving four heart attack patients who died in the neurointensive care unit (NICU) of the University of Michigan Medical School. By monitoring the patients’ neural emissions as they died, the researchers observed a spike in activity in the so-called “hot zone” of the brain, located at the intersection of the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes and linked to both dreaming and conscious thought.
What do those who returned from the dead say?
But to understand how these brain activity patterns translate into actual experience, researchers needed to talk to people who had died and come back to life. As part of an ongoing project exploring the experiences of patients being brought back to life after brief demise, scientists recently published information from a series of interviews conducted at multiple hospitals in the US and UK.
The authors, who published some of their data in 2019, found that 86 percent of study participants reported seeing a bright light, while 54 percent relived and reviewed major life events, confirming the two most common stereotypes about death. Overall, the death experience was described as pleasant and exhilarating: 95 percent of participants said they felt a sense of joy and peace as they left their bodies, while an equal number said the event changed them in positive ways.
Presenting more detailed results earlier this year, researchers found that many patients were actually aware of the medical procedures being performed while performing CPR, despite being seemingly comatose. Additionally, more than a fifth had what the authors call a “superconsciously remembered death experience,” meaning that their departure and return allowed them to re-evaluate and view their life history, identity, and purpose from a different perspective.
Yet, despite this new data, death remains a dark subject that eludes scientific explanation. For example, it is unclear how and why the brain responds to its own extinction by producing such indescribable experiences. Although largely speculative and unproven, one proposed theory is that the brain releases the powerful psychedelic compound DMT in an attempt to keep neurons alive in the absence of oxygen when we die. Although this suggestion may explain some of the events described as occurring at the time of death, further research is required before such claims can be verified.
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