Huh. So that’s what the crappy ending to Lost, one of my favorite shows up until the last episode, was about.
Doctors believe that a burst of brain activity occurs just before death and this could account for vivid “spiritual” experiences reported by those who come back from the brink. The researchers suggest this surge could be why some patients who have been revived when close to death report sensations such as walking towards a bright light or a feeling that they are floating above their body.
“We think the near-death experiences could be caused by a surge of electrical energy released as the brain runs out of oxygen,” said Dr Lakhmir Chawla, an intensive care doctor at George Washington University medical centre in Washington.
“As blood flow slows down and oxygen levels fall, the brain cells fire one last electrical impulse. It starts in one part of the brain and spreads in a cascade and this may give people vivid mental sensations.”
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In the research he used an electroencephalograph (EEG), a device that measures brain activity, to monitor seven terminally ill people. The medical purpose of the devices was to make sure that the patients, suffering from conditions such as cancer and heart failure, were sufficiently sedated to be out of pain. However, Dr Chawla noticed that moments before death the patients experienced a burst in brainwave activity lasting from 30 seconds to three minutes.The activity was similar to that seen in people who are fully conscious, even though the patients appeared asleep and had no blood pressure. Soon after the surge abated, they were pronounced dead.
I find it sad that so many people deny the findings found in this experiment simply because it contradicts their faith. To me this is just a copy of the great prayer experiment, where scientists tried to find out if prayer had a healing effect on the sick. This was proven false, yet people still pray for their loved ones when they’re sick. When they get better, they thank God, when they should thank the doctors. It is this kind of religious belief that slows down the progress of science and society. Whether the issue be abortion, gay marriage, birth control, or artificial conception, religion has always been the one to stand in the way. When will people realize that their beliefs are irrational and just accept the fact that the white light we see when we die is a cascade of brain activity rather than a divine intervention caused by a deity such as God