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Do we "think" for eight hours after dying? A family member worries.

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posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 11:08 AM
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My sister is moaning about a segment she saw on America's the "Today" Show this morning, in which a "scientist" (possibly from Harvard) said it takes the brain eight hours to die during the death process. So she thinks that people she's known who have died were put into the morgue locker still consciously thinking for up to eight hours.

I'm fairly sure that this is wrong, that the cells of the brain die off slowly but that our "ego" is unaware of this time period. I just wanted to get expert opinions (and we are all experts about something here, thank Goddess) about this, to either relieve her mind or give her nightmares. She even was crying about a dead dog who she now thinks was thinking for eight hours after dying, about chasing squirrels or whatever I can't imagine.

A personal story. One night in college I let two friends who were visiting use my dorm room, and a guy down the hall let me use an empty bed. I had been doing what I did that night, and it was still night when I lay down with my head on the pillow. I blinked, literally blinked my eyes, and it was morning. At least six hours had passed in real time, but to me no time had passed. It was the interval of a blink, and I was still in the same exact position. This has stayed with me as a preview of what probably happens at death, except the waking up part. That was a very interesting experience.

Thanks for any help or discussion on the above.
edit on 26-2-2013 by Aleister because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 11:15 AM
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reply to post by Aleister
 

I'm afraid what you are describing so defies physical science as to cause me to question the show's judgement in choosing topics and guests entirely.

I'll give you one very solid basis for why I said this. Consciousness is a product of physical brain function. That requires blood flow. It's a basic element of making this all work for a human being. We'll leave out the experiments done in guillotine executions for whether the head held life for any length of time. It's gruesome but definitive, in my view.

The BEST reason or example? Two Words. Choke Hold. I learned that little trick by my Police father back before using them was outlawed among the Cops. in just a few seconds I can absolutely terminate your consciousness, like flipping a switch. It's lethal if carried a few seconds too long ....but it's 100% the product of cutting blood flow to the brain.

.......so, dead people have no blood flow or circulatory system running at all. In a head and brain based entirely on physical process and biologic mechanics, how would you figure anything CAN exist where all the processes required to make even basic function work have ceased? The SOUL may live on, and I believe it does....but that isn't an 8 hour thing and not what they mean here, it seems?



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 11:15 AM
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I'm no brain surgeon but I'm pretty sure you're right in saying it takes the cells up to 8 hours to all die off etc.

Reminds me of when I first heard that a head remains concious for 10 seconds after being cut off, absolute twoddle

edit on 26/2/2013 by conz1992 because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 11:18 AM
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I thought brain activity stopped fairly quickly after clinical death. I do, however, have a theory that the brain is just a transducer, and that our minds are elsewhere. Just don't ask me where...



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 11:23 AM
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The brain dies within 5-7 minutes after no oxygen. This is provable after seeing patients with hypoxemic brain injuries, or patients that have suffered strokes. When the stroke causes ischemia, lack of oxygen to a part of the brain, that part of the brain suffers, resulting in stroke deficits. The deficits depend upon the size of the stroke and location in the brain.

Think of death as a whole brain stroke.

edit on 26-2-2013 by Libertygal because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 11:24 AM
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I'm no expert but I have serious doubts about the 8 hr claim.

However.... your post reminded me of this:


In the heyday of the guillotine during the French Revolution, it is said that many of the condemned were asked to blink for as long as possible after decapitation. While many reportedly did not blink at all, some complied for as long as thirty seconds. Still other observations describe much more specific reactions to stimuli following beheading. Consider the case of Languille, a convicted murderer who was guillotined in France. He was observed by Dr. Beaurieux during his execution at 5:30am on June 28th, 1905. As written in Archives d'Anthropologie Criminelle, here are the doctor's observations:

"Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds ... I waited for several seconds. The spasmodic movements ceased.The face relaxed, the lids half closed on the eyeballs, leaving only the white of the conjunctiva visible, exactly as in the dying whom we have occasion to see every day in the exercise of our profession, or as in those just dead.It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: 'Languille!' I saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contractions ... Next Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves ... After several seconds, the eyelids closed again, slowly and evenly, and the head took on the same appearance as it had had before I called out.It was at that point that I called out again and, once more, without any spasm, slowly, the eyelids lifted and undeniably living eyes fixed themselves on mine with perhaps even more penetration than the first time. Then there was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete. I attempted the effect of a third call; there was no further movement and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead.

I have just recounted to you with rigorous exactness what I was able to observe. The whole thing had lasted twenty-five to thirty seconds."



Lucid Decapitation

Pretty morbid eh? Of course... there's no way to tell how long the brain stays conscious after death.... no one has ever come back to describe the experience.

edit on 26-2-2013 by Blarneystoner because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 11:29 AM
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reply to post by Aleister
 


I am a firm believer in the soul, or spirit that survives physical death. Even if you extract all the mysticism and religion, you still have the human brain that is basically electrical. Electric is a form of energy and energy never dissipates, it merely changes form.

You can approach this from a lot of avenues and still find reason to believe.

Now, as for the first eight hours? I dunno. I'll drop a line as soon as I get there





edit on 26-2-2013 by redoubt because: addendum



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 12:00 PM
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I wish to be cremated when I die so I went over to the funeral home to get information. This was 3 years ago. I asked that question and I said that I didn't want to be cremated if I was 'still in the body feeling and thinking'. The funeral home said 'no worries', that death didn't happen like that. Pretty much, when you are dead, you are dead. Within seconds .. perhaps a minute or two ... nothing else from the body will be registering with 'you' ...

So .. no worries about being cremated and feeling like you are burning alive or anything ..



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 12:07 PM
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Well many people get autopsies just hours after being killed I think. They cut out the skull and completely remove hte brain to weigh it in some cases - which means cutting all the connections.

Ewww.

But anyway I think when hte blood flow stops the brain cells start dying after 5-7 minutes. This is permanent. Anybody that manages to survive it will have permanent damage.

There have been cases where people have come back after an hour or two, but this is in hte veyr rare cases where they're very very cold. There may be other required conditions.

I remember reading about a skier in norway or something that slipped through ice and was stuck inside a spring or something. She essentially died after a while. But they wer able ot revive her after almost 2 hours. I don't think she had any lasting brain damage. She was lucky.

Found it(!):
news.bbc.co.uk - Skier revived from clinical death...

.......
She was skiing down a waterfall gully near Narvik in north Norway when she fell head first into a river.

Her head and body became wedged under thick ice, and her friends could not free her.

She found an air pocket and struggled for 40 minutes before she fell still. It was another 40 minutes before her friends cut a hole in the ice and dragged her out downstream.

Anna was accompanied by two medical colleagues, who called an emergency medical dispatch centre by mobile telephone.

She was ventilated with oxygen and given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during a one-hour flight to hospital.
.........

edit on 26-2-2013 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 12:09 PM
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Originally posted by redoubt
reply to post by Aleister
 


I am a firm believer in the soul, or spirit that survives physical death. Even if you extract all the mysticism and religion, you still have the human brain that is basically electrical. Electric is a form of energy and energy never dissipates, it merely changes form.

You can approach this from a lot of avenues and still find reason to believe.

Now, as for the first eight hours? I dunno. I'll drop a line as soon as I get there





edit on 26-2-2013 by redoubt because: addendum


I also agree with you and that we are all light beings housed into a vessel (our human physical bodies). I think that the electrical energy ties us to our bodies to gain knowledge and wisdom on this earth before our physical body dies and then our soul is released from our vessel to join our creator. I believe that our soul has our dna, our thought, basically consciousness within. I think that our soul downloads from our brain all the data when we sleep and dream. Basically a backup hard drive so when we do physically die we can be restored by pure energy but without our vessel.



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 12:10 PM
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Originally posted by Aleister
My sister is moaning about a segment she saw on America's the "Today" Show this morning, in which a "scientist" (possibly from Harvard) said it takes the brain eight hours to die during the death process. So she thinks that people she's known who have died were put into the morgue locker still consciously thinking for up to eight hours.


I believe your sister is concerned about the person still being able to feel or of being conscious - She need not worry. After a person physically dies or has extreme trauma to the physical the person (soul) can and will leave the body.

It is highly unlikely, but if the deceased's soul remains with the body during this eight hour period it would be the deceased's choice - no pain.
edit on 26-2-2013 by straddlebug because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 12:11 PM
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Originally posted by Aleister
My sister is moaning about a segment she saw on America's the "Today" Show this morning, in which a "scientist" (possibly from Harvard) said it takes the brain eight hours to die during the death process. So she thinks that people she's known who have died were put into the morgue locker still consciously thinking for up to eight hours.



I can sum her situation with two words man, she's paranoid.



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 02:39 PM
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Thanks everyone, I was called away for awhile. I've heard the story of the guy yelling at the chopped off head before and getting a response. Interesting if true. But yes, the oxygen levels, the dying of the cells, etc., all occur not too long after death.

Since I put this thread up, I'll write up some more things. A woman I know or knew (I don't know if she till walks among us EDIT: Yep, she's 83 now. Yay!) was a pretty well known psychic and occultist, and had a few ex-nuns living with her at her beck and call. She had a standing order that if she died, or anyone found her dead, to close the door and leave her alone for 24 hours. Probably a reasonable time period for everything to stop, so maybe she was being kind to her cells. This woman also had a many years habit of drinking her own, well, morning water to be polite. She'd sometimes go into a trance and talk to her ex-nuns and anyone who was around. I wonder this moment (never thought of it before) if her ex-nuns also did the morning thing.

Thanks again for the fine answers.
edit on 26-2-2013 by Aleister because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 02:47 PM
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If you want to freak her out anymore tell her to look into the “Lazarus Syndrome” its basically people who have been correctly medically diagnosed as being “dead” waking up again…..

There is also a medical technique called “therapeutic hypothermia” whereby they lower a person’s body temperature right down I read about it in a medical journal and apparently brain activity becomes reduced so much that there is no brain activity to record yet the person is still alive yet would appear dead on some monitors.

In answer to your question then I don’t know, I have been around a lot of dead people and when they’re dead you know it, doesn’t matter how they died you always know they’re dead and not coming back. I personally don’t think that they have the ability to have any conscious thoughts, I really cant see how it would be medically possible but who knows what’s going on after death in the brain because we know so little about it. For all we know there could be some undiscovered part of the brain that lives after medical death but other than that slim possibility I cant see how it would be possible.



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 02:49 PM
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Here is a link to the Today Show recap. www.recapo.com... The Dr.'s name is Sam Parnia, and he says that some brain cells can live up to eight hours after death (my sister just built on this to the extent of believing that he said the person was thinking, doing crossword puzzles, etc.). The summary of Parnia's report comes after a summary of two people giving near-death experiences on the show, probably before he talked. I don't know if there's a youtube of this, I'll check.
edit on 26-2-2013 by Aleister because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 02:55 PM
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reply to post by FlyersFan
 





I wish to be cremated when I die so I went over to the funeral home to get information. This was 3 years ago. I asked that question and I said that I didn't want to be cremated if I was 'still in the body feeling and thinking'. The funeral home said 'no worries', that death didn't happen like that. Pretty much, when you are dead, you are dead. Within seconds .. perhaps a minute or two ... nothing else from the body will be registering with 'you' ...


As a nurse I can tell you that’s true in my experience I have seen way too many people die in front of me and I know that this might sound wired but once they take that last breath they don’t look like them anymore. Its really quite strange and sometimes a bit freaky but in the split second it takes for a person to actually cease to be alive they look different.

What’s also very important to talk about is that death is not a single event but death is a process so in reality a person could by “dying” for days or even months and years before they actually are said to have “died”. the bit where a person ceases to be alive is more of the end of the process but it’s the quickest part unless of course they come back from the dead and I don’t mean like a Zombie more like some wonderful intervention brings them back from the brink.



posted on Feb, 26 2013 @ 03:18 PM
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EDIT: There was a Dr. Sam Parnia thread here in August of 2012, he developed the AWARE Project, when he was writing a book, and the interview this morning probably means his book is published. The thread www.abovetopsecret.com...

And here is a youtube of Dr. Sam Parnia, the fellow who was on the Today Show, on the "Coast to Coast" show in January of 2011. This should give a pretty good update of his near-death research, because youtube also has a press conference he gave in 2008 which summarizes his work up until then. This is the first of three parts.


edit on 26-2-2013 by Aleister because: (no reason given)



posted on Mar, 10 2013 @ 04:17 AM
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Just tell her you won't be thinking, you will be dreaming.

or

you won't be in your body at that point... you will be in your soul moving toward heaven.



posted on Mar, 15 2013 @ 01:37 AM
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It stands to reason that a guillotined head could continue in a conscious or semi-conscious state for about 30 seconds afterwards; the adrenaline running with a bit of hyperventilation would oxygenate the brain long enough for that amount of time.

Also, the woman who was fine after 20 minutes in icy water is just proving that as body temperature decreases, oxygen need of the vital organs also decreases. People are packed in saline slush for cardiac procedures all the time.

Even if every last cell of the human body flares out over time, including over eight hours' time, the consciousness is long gone by then. And no one is autopsied within a few hours' of death; it takes much longer than that for the paperwork to be filed and the medical examiner to be assigned the case, or a hospital doctor to be available. Dead people in morgues are in their own waiting queue and have generally been refrigerated for quite a while before the autopsy is performed.



posted on Mar, 15 2013 @ 02:03 AM
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What happens when the brain loses oxygen? You pass out. Do you have consciousness when you pass out?

So no, you would not be conscious after death, for any period of time.




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