The human brain can remain active for hours after death

A question that has confused humanity is "the experience after death" or the experience after the heart has stopped beating. According to anecdotal reports, a person would be able to understand and hear what is going on around her even after being declared dead. A team of researchers has discovered that the brain is functioning for a while after stopping the heart. The research is reported in a journal article titled "AWARE – AWAreness during Resuscitation – A Prospective Study".

The team of scientists at Stony Brook University of Medicine in New York examined patients with heart attacks in Europe and the United States. They noted that those patients who had been successfully resuscitated once their heart stopped beating could remember the conversations surrounding them around the caregivers and were aware of what was around them.

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Dr. Sam Parnia, responsible for the study, said that patients could describe in detail what happened around them. He explained that the time when death is declared is when the heart stops beating. When the heart stops beating, it stops pumping blood to the brain and slowly, the brain begins to close, he explains. He added that this process of slow closing of the brain can take hours and that the person can be dead during this period, but aware of his environment.

The team hopes that this study will facilitate the management of cardiac arrest and will also prevent brain damage during resuscitation of such patients. Dr. Parnia said, "At the same time, we are also studying the human mind and conscience in the context of death, in order to understand whether the consciousness is annihilated or persists after your death for a period of time – and what is it about what happens in the brain in real time. "

What this study means is that people remain imprisoned in their bodies for a certain time after their declaration of death. According to Parnia, people change after having an experience "after death". Parnia warned that unlike the Hollywood movie "Flatliners", people who come back from this experience do not come with additional visions or memories. The science fiction movie showed a group of medical students who simulated near-death experience experiences to end up with visions and memories of the past.

He explained that the thinking region of the brain or cerebral cortex slows down and the lines are flat, but that the brain cells are still active. When CPR is administered, the heart starts again and the brain also works. He said: "If you manage to restart the heart, as CPR attempts, you will gradually get the brain back to work. The longer the CPR, the more active brain death pathways are – they occur at a slightly slower pace. What tends to happen is that people who have gone through these very deep experiences come back positively transformed. They become more selfless, more committed to helping others. They find a new meaning in life after meeting death. But there is no sudden and magical improvement in their memories. It's just Hollywood jazz. "