https://www.sciencealert.com/were-gettin...o-peaceful
EXCERPTS: . . . In 2016, a then-87-year-old man was connected to an electroencephalogram, or EEG, when he unexpectedly had a heart attack and died. Researchers later published the results in Frontiers of Aging Neuroscience.
An EEG measures electrical signals that the brain produces in order to help diagnose or examine certain neurological conditions like seizures and memory loss.
Sure enough, doctors were monitoring the man for a series of recent seizures when his heart suddenly stopped beating.
In the paper, researchers reported that during the 15 seconds leading up to the man's heart attack, the EEG scan revealed high-frequency brainwaves called gamma oscillations, which are thought to play a role in creating and retrieving memories.
"It is very hard to make claims with one case… but what we can claim is that we have signals just before death and just after the heart stops like those that happen in the healthy human when they dream or memorize or meditate," lead study author Dr. Ajmal Zemmar told Insider's Anna Medaris.
Of course, these scans are of a man seconds before death and not exactly equivalent to an NDE, where the person survives. However, such activity may help explain why people see memory flashbacks or faces of people they know during an NDE, Greyson said.
Moreover, EEG scans of people attempting to remember their NDE also provide more clues to what an NDE does to the human brain.
[...] When people recall an NDE, the brain "shows increased activity in many different parts," Greyson said, "such as those associated with memory, vision, hearing, and emotion." ... "That has led some people to believe that near-death experiences are simply biological, chemical reactions to the brain dying," San Filippo said.
[...] Some researchers think NDEs are just as much spiritual as they might be biological. Across different age groups and among people in different countries, reports of NDEs are strikingly similar, especially in regards to encountering a spiritual deity or feeling part of something bigger than life on earth, San Filippo said.
[...] While researching NDEs is a challenge because they're hard to predict, as researchers come to better understand these phenomena, it could inform new therapies and treatments for people facing terminal illnesses, and their loved ones... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: . . . In 2016, a then-87-year-old man was connected to an electroencephalogram, or EEG, when he unexpectedly had a heart attack and died. Researchers later published the results in Frontiers of Aging Neuroscience.
An EEG measures electrical signals that the brain produces in order to help diagnose or examine certain neurological conditions like seizures and memory loss.
Sure enough, doctors were monitoring the man for a series of recent seizures when his heart suddenly stopped beating.
In the paper, researchers reported that during the 15 seconds leading up to the man's heart attack, the EEG scan revealed high-frequency brainwaves called gamma oscillations, which are thought to play a role in creating and retrieving memories.
"It is very hard to make claims with one case… but what we can claim is that we have signals just before death and just after the heart stops like those that happen in the healthy human when they dream or memorize or meditate," lead study author Dr. Ajmal Zemmar told Insider's Anna Medaris.
Of course, these scans are of a man seconds before death and not exactly equivalent to an NDE, where the person survives. However, such activity may help explain why people see memory flashbacks or faces of people they know during an NDE, Greyson said.
Moreover, EEG scans of people attempting to remember their NDE also provide more clues to what an NDE does to the human brain.
[...] When people recall an NDE, the brain "shows increased activity in many different parts," Greyson said, "such as those associated with memory, vision, hearing, and emotion." ... "That has led some people to believe that near-death experiences are simply biological, chemical reactions to the brain dying," San Filippo said.
[...] Some researchers think NDEs are just as much spiritual as they might be biological. Across different age groups and among people in different countries, reports of NDEs are strikingly similar, especially in regards to encountering a spiritual deity or feeling part of something bigger than life on earth, San Filippo said.
[...] While researching NDEs is a challenge because they're hard to predict, as researchers come to better understand these phenomena, it could inform new therapies and treatments for people facing terminal illnesses, and their loved ones... (MORE - missing details)