Post by auntym on Oct 7, 2013 12:13:40 GMT -6
edition.cnn.com/2013/04/09/health/belgium-near-death-experiences/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
'Afterlife' feels 'even more real than real,' researcher says
By Ben Brumfield, CNN
April 10, 2013
Scans compare neurological activity in a brain that is healthy, one that is comatose and another that is dead
(CNN) -- You're about to go to "heaven" and live to tell about it. And your story will become the subject of scientific research.
It's the perfect day. You're strolling down a sidewalk, listening to an ensemble of bird songs, soaking up a balmy breeze fragranced with fresh spring flowers, and gazing up at a cloudless sky of pure azure.
Pleasantly distracted, you step off the sidewalk into the street. Brakes screech; horns blare; people shriek in horror. You snap back to reality ... just as the truck hits you.
You fly for yards like a rag doll; you land hard. You're numb all over and fading fast. It's all over; you know it. Your life flashes before you like an epic movie. The End.
You leave your body and look down at it. People are bending over it. Someone is sobbing uncontrollably. As the ambulance rushes up, a blinding light surges above you. It beckons you softly.
You follow it through a tunnel to a place much more vividly real and spectacular than the banner Sunday afternoon you just left behind. You are sure you have arrived in the hereafter.
Weeks later, you wake up to the steady beeps of an EKG monitor next to your hospital bed.
Secrets spilled in life's final minutes: edition.cnn.com/2013/02/07/health/reddit-deathbed-confessions/index.html
The scientific journey begins
If your hospital is in Belgium, Dr. Steven Laureys may pay you a visit, interested to hear what you remember from your NDE, or near-death experience.
He tells you that many people have gone down this road before you and that you can trust him with your experience.
"Patients in intensive care are scared to tell their stories," he said. They are afraid people won't take them seriously, especially doctors and scientists.
Laureys heads the Coma Science Group at the university hospital in the city of Liege. He and his colleagues published a scientific study on NDEs late last month.
People who go on these fantastic journeys are often forever changed. Many seem to come back happier and no longer fear death, he said. The experience becomes a cornerstone of their lives.
NDEs feel "even more real than real," Laureys said. It's this sparkling clarity and living color of the experience, which many have when they lose consciousness, that he and his team have researched.
But he doesn't think it comes from a spirit world. Laureys is a scientist, he emphasizes. He prefers not to mix that with religion.
His hypothesis is that near-death experiences originate in human physiology. "It is this dysfunctional brain that produces these phenomena," he said.
Laureys and his staff are interested in how the brain creates the mind and its perception of reality. "Our main focus is consciousness research in comatose patients," he said. His team hopes to raise the quality of their comfort and care.
CONTINUE READING: edition.cnn.com/2013/04/09/health/belgium-near-death-experiences/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
'Afterlife' feels 'even more real than real,' researcher says
By Ben Brumfield, CNN
April 10, 2013
Scans compare neurological activity in a brain that is healthy, one that is comatose and another that is dead
(CNN) -- You're about to go to "heaven" and live to tell about it. And your story will become the subject of scientific research.
It's the perfect day. You're strolling down a sidewalk, listening to an ensemble of bird songs, soaking up a balmy breeze fragranced with fresh spring flowers, and gazing up at a cloudless sky of pure azure.
Pleasantly distracted, you step off the sidewalk into the street. Brakes screech; horns blare; people shriek in horror. You snap back to reality ... just as the truck hits you.
You fly for yards like a rag doll; you land hard. You're numb all over and fading fast. It's all over; you know it. Your life flashes before you like an epic movie. The End.
You leave your body and look down at it. People are bending over it. Someone is sobbing uncontrollably. As the ambulance rushes up, a blinding light surges above you. It beckons you softly.
You follow it through a tunnel to a place much more vividly real and spectacular than the banner Sunday afternoon you just left behind. You are sure you have arrived in the hereafter.
Weeks later, you wake up to the steady beeps of an EKG monitor next to your hospital bed.
Secrets spilled in life's final minutes: edition.cnn.com/2013/02/07/health/reddit-deathbed-confessions/index.html
The scientific journey begins
If your hospital is in Belgium, Dr. Steven Laureys may pay you a visit, interested to hear what you remember from your NDE, or near-death experience.
He tells you that many people have gone down this road before you and that you can trust him with your experience.
"Patients in intensive care are scared to tell their stories," he said. They are afraid people won't take them seriously, especially doctors and scientists.
Laureys heads the Coma Science Group at the university hospital in the city of Liege. He and his colleagues published a scientific study on NDEs late last month.
People who go on these fantastic journeys are often forever changed. Many seem to come back happier and no longer fear death, he said. The experience becomes a cornerstone of their lives.
NDEs feel "even more real than real," Laureys said. It's this sparkling clarity and living color of the experience, which many have when they lose consciousness, that he and his team have researched.
But he doesn't think it comes from a spirit world. Laureys is a scientist, he emphasizes. He prefers not to mix that with religion.
His hypothesis is that near-death experiences originate in human physiology. "It is this dysfunctional brain that produces these phenomena," he said.
Laureys and his staff are interested in how the brain creates the mind and its perception of reality. "Our main focus is consciousness research in comatose patients," he said. His team hopes to raise the quality of their comfort and care.
CONTINUE READING: edition.cnn.com/2013/04/09/health/belgium-near-death-experiences/index.html?iid=article_sidebar