Brain activity of dying people shows signs of near-death experiences
High-frequency waves in specific regions of the brain are thought to be a hallmark of consciousness – now they have been recorded surging in two people as they died
By Clare Wilson
1 May 2023
Some people who have had a brush with death report experiencing a sensation of moving down a tunnel towards a bright light
Sharon Dominick/iStockphoto/Getty Images
A surge of brainwaves in two people who lay dying after their life support was turned off may help to explain the phenomenon of near-death experiences.
The sensation of moving down a tunnel towards a bright light, reliving past memories and hearing or seeing deceased relatives have all been reported by people from many cultures who have had a brush with death. Sceptics, however, say these experiences could be caused by people hallucinating as they recover in hospital.
Now, it seems we may have identified the brain activity behind these experiences.
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Ten years ago, Jimo Borjigin at the University of Michigan Medical School and her colleagues showed that rats have a surge of electrical activity in their brains as they die.
Some people who are critically ill in intensive care units have electrodes placed on their head to monitor their brainwaves in a technique called electroencephalography, or EEG, if doctors think they are at risk of having epileptic seizures.
Borjigin’s team combed through anonymised medical records for people who had an EEG recorded as their life support was switched off because they had no hope of recovery, finding four such people.
