How you can be 'aware you are dead' - minutes after your heart stops
A scientist has revealed people could be aware of their own death, with consciousness continuing to function after the body stops.
Before the study, it was believed the brain's activity stopped 30 seconds after a person has passed away, with this considered to be "life after death."
But after interviewing over 2000 people who survived cardiac arrests, British scientists have now said there is evidence of awareness for up to three minutes, The Sun reported.
The research, done at the University of Southampton, found 40 per cent of patients could recall having awareness after being pronounced dead.
"This suggests more people may have mental activity initially but then lose their memories after recovery, either due to the effects of brain injury or sedative drugs on memory recall,” head researcher Dr Sam Parnia said.
A 57-year-old man who was interviewed for the study said he was able to hear and feel his surroundings while clinically dead.
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"This is significant, since it has often been assumed that experiences in relation to death are likely hallucinations or illusions occurring either before the heart stops or after the heart has been successfully restarted, but not an experience corresponding with 'real' events when the heart isn't beating," Dr Parnia said.
Dr Parnia said the man's recollection of the events taking place around him while he was "dead" were consistent with doctor accounts.
