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Awareness After Cardiac Arrest Researchers find clues to life after death
Death is an inevitable event for all people. But what happens after that? For years the question of whether there is a life after death is discussed. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Researchers have now discovered that our consciousness is still alive after our heart has stopped beating.
What happens after death? This question has probably already asked each person. Scientists at the University of Southampton found out in a large study that our consciousness is still active for a short while, even though our heart has already stopped beating. At least here there is a life after death, if only for a short time. The doctors published a communication on the results of their study.
For a long time there have been discussions between religion and science, whether a life after death really follows. Scientists now found evidence of a kind of life after death. At least our consciousness is still active a few minutes after the cardiac arrest. (Image: sudok1 / fotolia.com) Awareness active up to three minutes after death
A study with more than 2,000 subjects examined whether there really is a life after death for us humans. The University of Southampton scientists confirmed that our consciousness is still active for up to three minutes after our heart has stopped beating. Therefore, one could say that a life after death was actually confirmed. Interestingly, another recent study by the Washington University in Seattle revealed that some genes in our body become active only after death.
Belief: no turning off of consciousness 30 seconds after death
Originally, experts believed that about 30 seconds after our heart stopped beating, our blood stops flowing through the body and our consciousness stops functioning. But the results of the University of Southampton study prove the opposite. The consciousness of us humans is still present for up to three minutes, after the already cardiological death has occurred.
Death is a potentially reversible process
Contrary to common perception, death is not a specific moment, explain the scientists. Death seems to be more of a potentially reversible process that occurs after serious illnesses or after accidents that cause the heart, lungs and brain to stop functioning. If this process succeeds, the condition is referred to as temporary cardiac arrest. However, if all attempts fail, the condition is considered death, add the physicians.
40 percent of respondents could remember a kind of consciousness
Of the 2,060 subjects interviewed who survived a recent cardiac arrest, 40 percent said they were able to remember any kind of consciousness, even though they were actually clinically dead at that point, the author explains Dr. Sam Parnia from University of Southampton. Two percent of sufferers described this experience as an out-of-body experience. The respondents were from Austria, America and Great Britain.
Affected persons usually can not remember any mental activity after recovery
The results suggest that affected individuals still have some mental activity after their death, but later - in the case of recovery - they lose their memories of it. Parnia. This happens either because of the effects of brain damage or because of the effect of sedatives, the expert continues.
Patient remembers details even though he was dead
Perhaps one of the key findings of the study was the testimony of a 57-year-old man. He was the first to report on his out-of-body experience. The patient had suffered a cardiac arrest and yet he could remember with incredible accuracy what was going on around him after he had died temporarily, the researchers say. This is of great importance because it is often assumed that experiences of death are probably just hallucinations or illusions. So far, there have been no experiences that match real events when the heart stops beating. Parnia.
Memories of the dead matched proven events
In the case of the subject, however, the consciousness was still present in a period of about three minutes, although no heartbeat was present. This is paradoxical because the brain usually does not function for more than 20 to 30 seconds after the heart stops, say the authors. It only starts working again after the heart has been restarted with medical help. In addition, the detailed memories of visual awareness in this case were consistent with proven events, adds Dr. Parnia added. (As)