Experts suggest that there may be evidence of out-of-body experiences when the brain experiences bursts of activity lasting several seconds after death, according to a report from The New York Post. Stuart Hameroff, an anesthesiologist and professor of anesthesiology and psychology at the University of Arizona, revealed that a study utilizing EEG sensors to monitor the brains of clinically deceased patients captured unique energy bursts following their deaths.
In this study, researchers placed EEG sensors on the brains of 7 chronically ill patients before their deaths to observe brain activity after their blood pressure and heartbeat dropped to zero. Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that despite the absence of blood pressure and heartbeat, the patients’ brains exhibited bursts of activity known as “gamma synchrony” for 30 to 90 seconds after clinical death. Gamma synchrony is a brainwave pattern associated with conscious thinking, awareness, and perception.
Hameroff believes that these bursts of brain activity could potentially serve as evidence of the soul leaving the body. In a recent interview on the Project Unity Podcast, he stated, “This could be a near-death experience, or it could be an out-of-body experience.”
While some skeptics argue that these bursts of brain activity are merely the neurons firing off a “last hurrah” after death or are just illusions, Hameroff suggests that it could indeed be the consciousness leaving the body. He speculates that consciousness may operate at a lower energy level than other brain activities, and it could be the “last thing to go” during the process of dying.
He emphasized, “The key is that it suggests that consciousness may actually be a very low energy process.” Hameroff referenced a study conducted by Dr. Lakhmir Chawla, an emergency room physician at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California, that involved monitoring the brains of terminally ill patients.
He mentioned that this phenomenon is reproducible, with approximately half of the patients exhibiting these effects when measured, although not at 100% consistency. Hameroff is of the belief that consciousness functions at a deeper, almost microscopic level, or what he refers to as the “quantum” level.
According to Neuroscience News, “quantum brain activity” is a theoretical concept suggesting that specific brain functions may operate within small, localized regions of neurons. Hameroff’s reference to the study conducted at George Washington University in 2009 aimed to observe the level of consciousness in critically ill patients nearing the end of their lives. The participants in the study included 2 males and 5 females ranging in age from 34 to 74 years old.