I think we’ve all heard about the concept of near-death experiences, and now scientists are claiming that the phenomenon is simply self-contained in the brain.
Dr. Kevin Nelson, a neurologist in Lexington, Kentucky, studies near-death experiences and says they’re not imagined. The explanation, he says, lies in the brain itself.
“These are real experiences. And they’re experiences that happen at a time of medical crisis and danger,” Nelson said.
Humans have a lot of reflexes that help keep us alive, part of the “fight or flight” response that arises when we’re confronted with danger.
Nelson thinks that near-death experiences are part of the dream mechanism and that the person having the experience is in a REM, or “rapid eye movement,” state.
“Part of our ‘fight or flight’ reflexes to keep us alive includes the switch into the REM state of consciousness,” he said.
During REM sleep, there is increased brain activity and visual stimulation. Intense dreaming occurs as a result.
And the bright light so many people claim to see?
“The activation of the visual system caused by REM is causing the bright lights,” Nelson said.
And the tunnel people speak of, he says, is lack of blood flow to the eye. “The eye, the retina of the eye, is one of the most exquisitely sensitive tissues to a loss of blood flow. So when blood flow does not reach the eye, vision fails, and darkness ensues from the periphery to the center. And that is very likely causing the tunnel effect.”
Typically stories like these have two results: the people who believe in near-death experiences and all they encompass will strongly disagree, stating various reasons why they are real; and the people who don’t believe in anything remotely paranormal will say this study proves that the paranormal absolutely does not exist.
Blanket statements are a bad idea either way. There is room for scientific fact and the unexplainable…it’s a big crazy world out there, with a lot going on. 🙂
