The one thing we all have in common is death. It’s inevitable, and yet it’s under-studied and often overlooked by many in the scientific community, even though it’s the crux (or the bane, depending on who you ask) of existence.
A staggering number of people have reported Near Death Experiences (NDEs) after certain criteria were met. This includes, but is not limited to, seeing a bright light, feeling disassociated from one’s body, and feeling a sense of overwhelming peace. In fact, according to research, studies show that one in ten people report having had a NDE.
More and more researchers are taking notice and using these self-described NDEs as roadmaps for their empirical studies of what physically happens in the brain as we’re dying .
Death and dying are a fascinating, perplexing puzzle for doctors and researchers. In 2024 article for The Guardian titled, “The new science of death: ‘There’s something happening in the brain that makes no sense,’” author Alex Blasdel discusses the focused curiosity Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan, has on the topic. “She had read about the near-death experiences of certain cardiac-arrest survivors who had undergone extraordinary psychic journeys before being resuscitated. Sometimes, these people reported travelling outside of their bodies towards overwhelming sources of light where they were greeted by dead relatives. Others spoke of coming to a new understanding of their lives, or encountering beings of profound goodness.”
The thing of it is, one doesn’t have to have a belief in a “higher” power to experience these events. A self-described atheist has given many talks and interviews about her experience.
Borjigin was a skeptic but began to investigate. In a 2023 piece for Michigan Medicine, lead research editor Kelly Malcolm writes that Borjigin led the study for The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. She and her team found two patients who “upon removal of ventilator support, showed an increase in heart rate along with a surge of gamma wave activity, considered the fastest brain activity and associated with consciousness.”
Altered states, indeed. To get more specific, when one of the patients (referred to as Patient One) was taken off life support, something extraordinary happened. Blasdel reports, “In the moments after Patient One was taken off oxygen, there was a surge of activity in her dying brain. Areas that had been nearly silent while she was on life support suddenly thrummed with high-frequency electrical signals called gamma waves. In particular, the parts of the brain that scientists consider a ‘hot zone’ for consciousness became dramatically alive.”
It gets even more fascinating. Blasdel continues, “For about two minutes after her (Patient One’s) oxygen was cut off, there was an intense synchronisation of her brain waves, a state associated with many cognitive functions, including heightened attention and memory. The synchronisation dampened for about 18 seconds, then intensified again for more than four minutes. It faded for a minute, then came back for a third time.”
In other words, the patient’s life may have flashed before their eyes, as the cliché goes. Unfortunately, Patient One didn’t recover, but based on the brain waves, it’s likely they experienced a cacophony of neurotransmitters exploding into light, guiding them through tunnels of memories. Maybe?
Upworthy spoke with Dr. Elreacy Dock, DBH, D.Th., Certified Grief Educator, and Adjunct Professor of Thanatology. She shares that NDEs have actually been reported in about 17 percent of patients, with a notable amount coming from cardiac arrest survivors. The why of it is much more tricky. “Theories as to why they may occur, which range from the possibility of cerebral anoxia and a significant release of neurotransmitters to other alternatives such as having consciousness independent of the brain.”
Furthermore, there are probably a lot more that aren’t even talked about than we even know. “It has been argued that NDEs are far more prevalent than documented and that some remain unreported because people have difficulty recalling NDEs due to trauma, heavy sedation or medication use, and impaired memory,” Dock concludes.
Dock reiterates that, “Some researchers believe that these waves may reflect a ‘life recall’ process that is similar to what some individuals have mentioned encountering in near-death experiences (e.g., a life review). Studies have also shown that when near-death experiencers have recalled their memories of these experiences, these were associated with delta and theta brain waves. These are generally attributed to trance states, episodic memory, and recollection of past events, which makes these NDE memories distinguishable as actual experiences rather than imagined experiences.”
The idea being that the patient who can recall their NDE isn’t making it up. Their brain waves prove that their experience, no matter what it’s attributed to, was very real to them and not a fictionalized part of their imagination.
She also notes, as have many researchers, that while these NDEs are often reported as positive, that’s not always the case. “It is not uncommon for individuals to report negative experiences, some of which have also been said to influence an increase in suicidal ideation among those who have made previous attempts.”
This is discussed at length in Netflix’s docuseries Surviving Death, which ran the gamut of emotions from those who experienced NDEs and lived to tell about them. Some saw it as a spiritual awakening, while others were merely baffled by how odd the experience was. Many had beautiful sensations to report, while others felt darkness and fear. Much like life itself, our experience with death sounds pretty personalized.
As Blasdel writes, “Death may be far more alive than we ever thought possible.”
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