What could be more mysterious than death …
No one knows what is hidden there, outside of life. However, from time to time, there are testimonies of people who have been in a state of clinical death and talk about extraordinary visions: tunnels, bright light, meetings with angels, deceased relatives, etc.
For several years, interest in this problem has been fueled by the book of the famous physician and philosopher Raymond Moody "Life After Life". He was the first to collect and generalize the most striking manifestations of the near-death experience.
“When dying, a person hears at the moment of extreme physical exhaustion, as a doctor states his death. An unpleasant noise is heard before him - a loud ringing or hum. At the same time, he feels that he is rapidly rushing through a long dark tunnel … He is met by some creatures, and among them he recognizes dead relatives and friends … - this is how Dr. Moody writes in his book.
But according to the latest scientific discoveries, all these experiences are just a dream. This is the conclusion reached by Professor Kevin Nelson, a neurologist at the University of Lexington, Kentucky, who has conducted research in this area.
"The feeling that they are surrounded by white light can cause different eye activity during REM sleep (" REM sleep "), the phase when a person dreams," - explains the scientist. In addition, extreme muscle weakness can increase the patient's feeling that he is dead, and even convince others that this is indeed the case.
Nelson argues that near-death experiences are not necessarily dreams, since the two are fundamentally different. The purpose of this study is to provide a biological basis for how such visions occur, and not to dissuade the impossibility of life after death.
According to scientists, it is the features of the human awakening system, when the stage of REM sleep coincides with wakefulness, that can become the basis for the occurrence of near-death sensations.
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Meanwhile, doctors are trying to find practical uses for clinical death for the benefit of their patients.
Dr. Hazan Alam from Massachusetts Hospital said that patients who are in mortal danger could soon be placed in a state of "suspended animation", that is, suspended activity, a temporary cessation of all vital functions.
In this state, not only the pulse is absent, but also the electrical activity in the brain, and even the tissues do not consume any oxygen. Physicians could safely, for many hours, carry out surgery to save a patient while he is in this artificially induced state on the border between life and death.
By the usual definition, this is clinical death, only artificial. But Alam believes that soon doctors will learn how to reliably remove a person from the state of "suspended animation". Alam proposes to pump out all the blood from patients during such an operation, and so that the tissues do not die without oxygen, to cool them strongly.
At the end of the operation, the heated blood of the person himself should be pumped back to him, and the heart should be started. Alam says such an experiment has already been successfully carried out in pigs. And he hopes that human trials of this technology will soon follow.
Indeed, clinical death sometimes works miracles and not only with people. In the village of Malaya Valyaevka, Penza region, lives a "clairvoyant" dog named Fatima.
Once a misfortune happened to Fatima, she suddenly died. The dog was not immediately buried, but what was the surprise of the hostess when the next morning Fatima happily devoured her breakfast.
“The most interesting thing began after our Fatima“resurrected,”Valentina throws up her hands. - The character and habits of the dog have completely changed. She became a real guard of our territory. Excessive in the yard will not let! Not a step away from me. And somehow we were sitting at home together in the evening. I automatically began to consult with Fatima: say, should I go to Moscow on business or not? The dog shook his head in response, like shaking off the water.
I thought it was a coincidence. Just in case, I repeated the question. The result is the same: the dog shook his head furiously, as if to dissuade me. Still, Valentina went to the capital and then regretted this decision: she got sick and, in addition, lost all her money!"
After this incident, the household began to ask this or that question to their dog. In response, Fatima either shakes her head - "no", or nods - "yes". So far, the "seer" has never made a mistake.