Medical News Today: Are near-death experiences real? New study investigates

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Medical News Today: Are near-death experiences real? New study investigates
Medical News Today

URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/283650.php
Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Published: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 00:00:00 PDT

Description: In the world's largest study of mental awareness during resuscitation, researchers find evidence that near-death experiences could be real. Near-death experiences. The terminology conjures thoughts of out-of-body episodes and bright light. Although such experiences may be repudiated as illusory, researchers of the world's largest study to assess mental awareness during resuscitation say they have found evidence that near-death experiences may be real. The researchers - led by Dr. Sam Parnia, who was an honorary research fellow at the University of Southampton in the UK when he began this study - publish their findings in the journal Resuscitation. According to Dr. Parnia, death is a potentially reversible process that happens after a severe injury or illness causes the heart, lung or brain to stop functioning. "If attempts are made to reverse this process, it is referred to as 'cardiac arrest.' However, if these attempts do not succeed it is called 'death,'" he explains. Patients who experience cardiac arrest and are resuscitated often report a near-death experience (NDE) - described as a lucid experience of perceived consciousness that occurs during impending death. Although NDEs differ from person to person, common reports of these experiences include encountering a bright light, meeting deceased loved ones, and seeing and hearing "real" events from another perspective - often known as an out-of-body experience.