Brain Wave Surge Explains Near-Death Experiences

Doctors studying the brain wave activity of terminally ill patients noted a surge moments before death, which may provide a physiological explanation for ‘out of body’ type experiences.

The doctors studied seven patients, dying from critical illnesses such as cancer and heart attacks. They noticed a burst in brain wave activity, with the spikes occurring at the same time before death and at comparable intensity and duration.

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This is really interesting, I would like to hear everyones take on this.

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[edit on Thu Oct 8 2009 by Jbird]

Interesting,,,but how can this explain all those who claimed, when dead, and out of body, hoovering over thier body for a descent length of time? And they all claim too see an angel, or a white light, or a family elative saying its not time yet...then miraculously, come back, and restart their dead bodies and minds..?
Ide imagine thier would be a surge of activity in the brain, when near or on death..i read, that the last thing that shuts down, when yuo die is your brain....hence forth, why you should never try to be so emotional or say bad things, or make it too obvious for the deceesed..because even thought hea ehart, lungs, nerves ect have shut down, the brian is still functioning. When yuor organs shut down, in this manner, the brain becomes awre it cannot survive in this body anymore* hence forth, since yuor nerves are cut off, the brian senses dspair and reacts, casuing the surge...thats my take on this. Tt may or maynot continue, untill NO more oxygen is getting to the brain.

reply to post by Alien Mind


Oh, the topsy-turvy little world of science....

*Observing* an activity doesn't automatically mean the activity is *causing* the experience. It just means they are probably correlated.

It's the same with those experiments with spinning people at high speeds (like astronauts), or stimulating a determined part of the brain, when the subjects then report feelings that sound comparable to NDE or other such "paranormal" states.
So? Yes, in both cases there is activity in the same part of the brain.... ???
Does that automatically mean their cause and even their nature are identical?
The only logical and scientifically prudent answer would be: NO.

the brain wave activity spike is the result of some stimulus...

perhaps its when your body/soul is engaging the resurrection vibration
and the brain gets all excited by the visions & expectancy of the envisioned and telepathically channeled 'life-after-death' state of bliss.


all the scientist did was verify that somethings 'going on'
but not 'what's going on'

back to square one

Originally posted by ziggy1706
Interesting,,,but how can this explain all those who claimed, when dead, and out of body, hoovering over thier body for a descent length of time?

Or those who were born blind (without optical nerves) and yet they SAW their surroundings and described them accurately...?

Ask Susan Blackmore.
Oh wait - she already has an answer (not about the born blind - those she flatly ignores): what they claim to have experienced probably happened just before the brain stopped - even though the EEG machine was no longer showing any activity whatsoever...

How and why?
Well, they are not terribly clear about that point, but Susan and many of her colleagues reckon it has something to do with the release of endorphins... (That's the pet cover-all term of the last decade within the medical community, in case you haven't noticed.)

According to Blackmore & al., the brain (which is not registered as functioning anymore, but never mind that...) releases endorphins to ease the "pain" and/or "terror" of death.

I saw her speaking about this - and I was furious when the reporter who was interviewing failed to ask her the following:

1.) Where is the evidence that the moment of death IS a painful or even disturbing experience in the first place? (If anything, it seems to be the opposite, certainly in many cases, if we are to judge by appearances.)
In short, she is basing her argumentation on a unproven supposition, AS IF it were a fact.

2.) If that is so, why don't all people who have lived through the experience of death (I know : ) report such experiences? Why, in fact, some - not very many, but some - report the opposite: terrifying visions and unease?

and

3.) If it's about endorphins - or ANY other mechanism - easing the "pain"... why, then, people do not have such experiences when they have a splitting headache? Or an excruciating toothache?
These are situations where endorphins really would be of use, and the pain is undoubtedly there - not purely speculative.

I'd love to hear her answers...












[edit on 8-10-2009 by Vanitas]

Pineal gland may have something to do with this; '___' or dimethyltryptamine is the most powerful hallucinogen known to man. This is secreted in large amounts by the pineal gland when you are born and when you die. Also each night you sleep but on a much lower dosage.

Every night we all take a class A drugs, what a bunch of criminals....

The brain wave states can also be reached by meditation as many know, astral projection and other associated phenomena come hand in hand.

I'd love to see these guys explain the astral projection experiences, looking down on yourself in a bed with doctors around and stating exactly what happened afterwards, while you are 'asleep' my own mother has experienced this.

Here's some links I have prepared for anyone intrigued:

www.rickstrassman.com...

www.bridgeofstars.co.uk...

www.zimbio.com...

Terrence McKennna has done some excellent in depth research into '___' and other hallucinogens. He went out and lived with native south american tribes to truely attempt to grasp hold of '___', its effects and all other culture associated with it.

[edit on 8/10/09 by GhostR1der]

Their consciousness is being transfer to a computer simulation from the future. If you believe in heaven the simulation will place you in it. Whatever your beliefs are upon your "death" it will be simulated in the system.

Originally posted by Ethereal Gargoyle
reply to post by Alien Mind

 

Oh, the topsy-turvy little world of science....

*Observing* an activity doesn't automatically mean the activity is *causing* the experience. It just means they are probably correlated.

Exactly. Science is again being a materialistic cult.

Interesting no doubt in my mind...

It reminds me of that new movie The Time Travelers Wife.

(i know total chick flick but my girlfriend asked me to)

Anyhow, the guy can travel threw time randomly, and cant help it. When a doctor does an EEG (i believe it was), he says he has a tremendous burst in his brain, of electrical activity (i believe)...

My Point?
science proves something happened int he brain but doesn't obviously deny the fact that it was REALLY happening. (obviously travels threw time)
At the same time, one could say just because an explanation of his brain activity, doesn't exactly explain the REAL phenomenon thats happening...

well if the whole scientific process sends my soul into a state of euphoria, that will seem to last for eternity, sounds good to me. I can take that

Brain wave surges don't explain !@#$. They just show something is going on in the brain. I've heard of near death experiences that just defy all possible logic. One day science is going to stop ignoring all these "coincidences" of unexplainable nature, and such close minded, materialism will hopefully be gone forever. I find it funny that we will study something as science if it immediately seems plausible and fits in with current theory. On the other hand, if it seems to defy logic or contradict a current theory in anyway, it's immediately pseudo-science and most scientists steer clear of the subject all together. Science is based on figuring out the world around us, we start not knowing much about a given topic, but we study it, and figure it out. I'm sure a lot of scientific subjects, in early days, were magical and paranormal in the minds of the people, according to what they knew at the time. Imagine if they denied any new thing because it "seemed" impossible or against God etc. That's exactly what we do now...

[edit on 10/10/09 by CHA0S]

How does it explain near death experiences?

Fact: They measure a brain surge.

Interpretation: Its a near death experience.

See the problem?