near to death episodes: latest study (Endings)

by David Turell , Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 23:26 (2587 days ago) @ David Turell

Another article on the Parnia study:

http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/after-death-youre-aware-that-youve-died-scientists-cla...

"Some scientists have studied near death experiences (NDEs) to try to gain insights into how death overcomes the brain. What they’ve found is remarkable, a surge of electricity enters the brain moments before brain death. One 2013 study out of the University of Michigan, which examined electrical signals inside the heads of rats, found they entered a hyper-alert state just before death.

"Scientists are beginning to think an NDE is caused by reduced blood flow, coupled with abnormal electrical behavior inside the brain. So the stereotypical tunnel of white light might derive from a surge in neural activity. Dr. Sam Parnia is the director of critical care and resuscitation research, at NYU Langone School of Medicine, in New York City. He and colleagues are investigating exactly how the brain dies.

***

“'Many times, those who have had such experiences talk about floating around the room and being aware of the medical team working on their body,” Dr. Parnia told Live Science. “They'll describe watching doctors and nurses working and they'll describe having awareness of full conversations, of visual things that were going on, that would otherwise not be known to them.”

"Medical staff confirm this, he said. So how could those who were technically dead be cognizant of what’s happening around them? Even after our breathing and heartbeat stops, we’re conscious for about 2-20 seconds, Dr. Parnia says. That’s how long the cerebral cortex is thought to last without oxygen. This is the thinking and decision-making part of the brain. It’s also responsible for deciphering the information gathered from our senses.
According to Parnia during this period, "You lose all your brain stem reflexes — your gag reflex, your pupil reflex, all that is gone." Brain waves from the cerebral cortex soon become undetectable.

"Usually, when the heart stops beating, someone performs CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). This will provide about 15% of the oxygen needed to perform normal brain function. "If you manage to restart the heart, which is what CPR attempts to do, you'll gradually start to get the brain functioning again,” Parnia said. “The longer you're doing CPR, those brain cell death pathways are still happening — they're just happening at a slightly slower rate."

***

"'At the same time, we also study the human mind and consciousness in the context of death,” Parnia said, “to understand whether consciousness becomes annihilated or whether it continues after you've died for some period of time — and how that relates to what's happening inside the brain in real time.'"

Comment: It is generally assumed that once the EEG is flat ( in 2-20 seconds) the brain is no longer receiving stimuli through consciousness. No one knows what the surge of electrical activity means other than extra electricity is recorded briefly as the brain stops receiving oxygen. Since some patients in NDE's can recognize activity around them for many minutes, the surge doesn't explain what is happening. Still evidence for dualism.