Post-Death Experiences

As reposted form Tumblr: 

andrabillion:

sixpenceee:

A team of scientists at the University of Southampton in the UK has just finished a four-year study of 2,060 people who experienced cardiac arrests at 15 hospitals across the UK, the US, and Austria. The researchers found that 40 percent of them felt ‘aware’ for the period of time that they were declared clinically dead. The medical staff at the hospitals successfully restarted their hearts so they could live to tell the tale. 
One man participating in the study described the feeling that he was watching his treatment from the corner of the room, while a female participant was able to recount exactly the actions of the nursing staff that resurrected her over a three-minute period. She could even very accurately describe the sound of the machines that surrounded her ‘dead’ body.
 “We know the brain can’t function when the heart has stopped beating, but in this case conscious awareness appears to have continued for up to three minutes into the period when the heart wasn’t beating, even though the brain typically shuts down within 20 to 30 seconds after the heart has stopped,” Sam Parnia, the study leader said.
 “The man described everything that had happened in the room, but importantly, he heard two bleeps from a machine that makes a noise at three-minute intervals. So we could time how long the experienced lasted for. He seemed very credible and everything that he said had happened to him had actually happened,” said Parnia
Not all of the people who survived the ordeal recalled some sort of experience in clinical death, perhaps because the medication they were given was messing with their brain function. Certain trends emerged from the 40 percent that did. One in five reported feeling peaceful, and a third said they felt time either speed up or slow down. Some described bright lights, others described feeling detached from their bodies. Some felt scared that they were drowning.
Of course, any research into what actually goes on after death will always be controversial, due to the enormous difficulties in gathering enough evidence to support much of anything that’s scientifically sound, but studies like this are at least an intriguing starting point. 
The study was published in the journal Resuscitation. (News Article)

This is AMAZING

Can I just take a moment to rant. 
I’ve been following the Human Consciousness Project with Sam Parnia, ever since they first began. I’ve literally been checking their website for the longest time to see their results and if they had released it yet. It’s amazing that over 40% of people reported back perception after a clinically dead stage. That’s a number we can’t ignore. 
It’s also amazing that whenever someone/anyone goes through a near death experience they report back the same things. It doesn’t matter if you are a farmer in China or a wall street business person in New York. Ever since near death experiences have been recorded, people from around the world have reported back the same key characteristics (feelings of peace, bright white light.)

As far as I’ve read, the “oxygen depletion” and all other theories have failed miserable at explaining these near death experiences because they do not cover all the characteristics of NDE’s. You can read more about that here
It really makes you wonder huh? I’ve been researching these things for the longest time, so if anyone is interested please check out my everything on the afterlife post (from an academic perspective) and my post on what mediums have to say about death. I put my blood, sweat and tears into these things.