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A near-death experience, or NDE, is best described as a profound personal experience with death, or impending death. According to those who claim they've undergone such an actuality, a NDE can manifest itself either as an overwhelming sense of calmness and tranquility, or a dreadful feeling of anguish and despair.
These events share broad commonalities. Typically, the victim describes becoming pain-free before departing from their physical self to float above their own body.
For neurologists, some of the answers are straightforward: these so-called near-death experiences have a neural basis.
Why the mind affords such positive and blissful sensations to people in life-threatening and invariably painful situations remains a mystery.
According to research undertaken at the University of Copenhagen, the sensations associated with a NDE are similar to what goes on in the brain during certain sleep disturbances.
The study, reported on by ResearchGate and others publications, suggests that episodes such as bright white light and a deep sense of tranquility are similar in nature to symptoms experienced during a phenomenon known as sleep paralysis.
The Sleep Foundation describes sleep paralysis as "a temporary loss of muscle control just after falling asleep or before waking up."
Seeing a bright light at the end of a tunnel is an often quoted experience.
Additional sensations commonly shared by those who've experienced a NDE include their reviewing of life through a series of vignettes as well as the feeling of an altered sense of time.
The condition is linked to a number of sleep disorders, notably REM (rapid eye movement) sleep intrusion.
REM sleep plays a significant role in memory consolidation, emotional processing, brain development, and dreaming. Anyone suffering REM sleep intrusion is also susceptible to sleep paralysis. It's why many neurologists believe NDEs have a neurological basis. This theory is reinforced by the fact that sleep paralysis is also associated with certain mental health conditions.
While sleep paralysis might explain why some NDEs are negative in nature, how does science explain the positive aspects of a near-death experience?
And what about those individuals whose NDEs are anything but tranquil, instead describing them as devastating and even hellish? Whatever the reasons, does science play a part in any of this?
Once again in order to answer at least some of the questions, researchers tend to turn to neuroscience and the effects sleep disorders have on the brain.
The warmth and serenity associated with a positive NDE is often recalled in vivid detail. But as previously remarked upon, the exact reason why some people are sent down this particular path rather than one that induces fear and anxiety is unclear.
There have also been reports of patients experiencing near-death episodes while anesthetized and undergoing surgery during life-threatening procedures.
And some victims of coma have later woken up to recall their own unique NDE.
Ultimately, there is room for both science and faith in the same conversation about near-death experiences.
They also speak of increased thought speed, a sense of detachment, and sharper vision or hearing.
Near-death experiences are triggered during singular life-threatening episodes when the body is injured. For example, by a heart attack.
Blunt force trauma such as that sustained in a fall or automobile accident is another source of so-called NDEs.
And many near-death experiences have concluded with a sensation of one's self flying off into space.
This feeling of being conscious but unable to move is frequently accompanied by visual or auditory hallucinations, or a feeling of suffocation. It can be a very disturbing experience.
While NDEs are complex phenomena, they can also be triggered by situations where someone's life isn't in danger.
According to New Scientist, syncope, or fainting, can be enough to promote NDE-like sensations. This assertion, in fact, goes back decades to a 1994 study published in The Lancet that found that fainting encouraged NDE symptoms like feelings of peace, entering another world, and being surrounded by light.
Most observers agree that a "good" NDE can have a positive impact on affected individuals. This works on the premise that any threat to one's own existence can lead one to rethink their own life in a better way.
Returning from the dead, so to speak, is often reported to be life-changing and spiritually meaningful. Finding out that death can be blissful, and that an afterlife awaits, serves as a comforting revelation to those frightened by the prospect of dying.
Affected individuals commonly become more reflective, philosophical, and morally upright.
A greater desire to cultivate love towards others and to generally be more accepting is another personality trait found in those who've experienced near death.
Indeed, some transcendental and religious beliefs about an afterlife include descriptions similar to NDEs.
Sources: (University of Copenhagen) (ResearchGate) (Sleep Foundation) (Scientific American) (New Scientist)
The existence of near-death experiences is generally recognized, but not understood. And yet, thousands, if not millions, of people claim to have been affected by this strange phenomenon. For decades, science has been attempting to make sense of what essentially is a variety of often positive sensations that include feelings of levitation and the presence of a bright white light. But a near-death experience can also induce fear, anxiety, and an overwhelming impression of loneliness. So, what's going on?
Is there an explanation out there based on scientific fact, or is there really life after death? Click through and find out if there are any answers.
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The existence of near-death experiences is generally recognized, but not understood. And yet, thousands, if not millions, of people claim to have been affected by this strange phenomenon. For decades, science has been attempting to make sense of what essentially is a variety of often positive sensations that include feelings of levitation and the presence of a bright white light. But a near-death experience can also induce fear, anxiety, and an overwhelming impression of loneliness. So, what's going on?
Is there an explanation out there based on scientific fact, or is there really life after death? Click through and find out if there are any answers.