“My life flashed before my eyes.”
This is a common expression after a moment of extreme fear also referred to as a near death experience.
How true is it though?
According to a recent scholarly article published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, doctors unintentionally captured the readings of a dying man’s brain. The findings could someday help generate answers to the myriad questions about death and our consciousness.
An 87-year-old man was a hospital patient due to a serious fall. Following surgery to relieve pressure in his cranium, he remained hooked up to an electroencephalography (EEG) machine to detect and treat seizures. With a do not resuscitate (DNR) order in place and his conditioning worsening the man eventually succumbed to a fatal heart attack.
The EEG machinery recorded the final moments of activity of the patient’s brain.
According to the readings, the brain activity was very similar to when someone is having a dream or recalling a vivid memory.
Did he see his life pass before his very eyes? Well, that question may never be answered fully by the medical experts, but the researchers might be getting closer to the answer.