Neuroscientists recorded the brain activity of a dying human brain, revealing how one’s neuroreceptors respond to a slowly dying body.
The researchers discovered a series of rhythmic brain wave patterns that resemble dreaming or recalling memories, making this the first neurological evidence affirming that dying humans see their lives flash before their eyes.
“Our data provide[s] the first evidence from the dying human brain in a non-experimental, real-life acute care clinical setting and advocate[s] that the human brain may possess the capability to generate coordinated activity during the near-death period,” said the authors of a new paper in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience journal.
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When an 87-year-old patient developed epilepsy, a series of doctors at the University of Tartu in Estonia attempted to help by using continuous electroencephalography to treat the man. The patient, however, had a heart attack while inside the EEG machine and died. This event allowed the researchers to capture images of the man’s brain as he was dying.
“We measured 900 seconds of brain activity around the time of death and set a specific focus to investigate what happened in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating,” said Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, in a blog post. Zemmar was one of several researchers who organized the study.
“Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations,” Zemmar said. These oscillations, better known as brain waves, resembled those used in the recollection of memory, he said.
That led the researchers to speculate that the patient may have been recalling key memories: “Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences.”
“These findings challenge our understanding of when exactly life ends and generate important subsequent questions, such as those related to the timing of organ donation,” Zemmar said.
While these brain wave recordings are the first in history, they resemble the brain waves of rats being recorded in controlled settings.
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While this is a singular case, Zemmar intends to investigate similar cases and see if the results are identical. He also considers this development to be a sign of hope.
“As a neurosurgeon, I deal with loss at times. It is indescribably difficult to deliver the news of death to distraught family members,” he said. “Something we may learn from this research is: Although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives.”
