What happens to the brain right before death?
If you are a big fan of dramatic movies, you might remember seeing montages of the best moments of the film right before an important character dies. So is this flashback for real or just a creative hypothesis?
New data from a scientific "accident" has suggested that life may actually flash before our eyes as we die! The findings were published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
First-ever recording of a dying brain
A team of scientists were measuring the brainwaves of an 87-year-old patient who had epilepsy. During the neurological recording, the patient suffered a fatal heart attack and the scientists ended up receiving an unexpected recording of a dying brain.
They found that in the 30 seconds before and after, the man's brain waves followed the same patterns as dreaming or recalling memories.
What did the brain waves indicate?
Dr Ajmal Zemmar, a co-author of the study and now a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, told the BBC that in the 30 seconds before the heart stopped supplying blood to the brain, the patient’s brain waves followed the same patterns as when we carry out high-cognitive demanding tasks – like concentrating, dreaming or recalling memories.
It continued 30 seconds after the patient's heart stopped beating. "This could possibly be a last recall of memories that we've experienced in life, and they replay through our brain in the last seconds before we die," the researchers said.
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What does one see in the flashbacks?
Dr Zemmar said it was impossible to tell what we exactly see or remember before death – something good or bad or something entirely else.
"If I were to jump to the philosophical realm, I would speculate that if the brain did a flashback, it would probably like to remind you of good things, rather than the bad things. But what's memorable would be different for every person," he said.
Related study
A 2013 US study carried out on healthy rats reported high levels of brainwaves at the point of the death until 30 seconds after the rats' hearts stopped beating. The similarities between studies are "astonishing", Dr Zemmar said. They hope this new case may open the door to other studies on people’s final moments of life.
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Too early to come to conclusions
"I think there's something mystical and spiritual about this whole near-death experience," Dr Zemmar said, adding, "And findings like this - it's a moment that scientists live for."
However, no broad conclusions can be drawn yet from a study of a single person. Further, the patient studied was epileptic, with a bleeding and swollen brain, which further complicates things.
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