Do we need to redefine what dying truly means? Some experts think so.
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story…
- A researcher analyzed papers from more than 20 peer-reviewed journals and found that signs of consciousness persist long after patients are technically declared dead.
- The findings suggest that death may unfold across a series of stages, rather than an instantaneous event.
- This could have major ethical implications for things such as organ donation.
Death—and what happens when it happens—is one of nature’s greatest mysteries. Clinical death is currently understood as an immediate, irreversible event that occurs once circulation stops and brain activity is no longer detectable.
However, new research suggests that death might not be as black and white as we once believed. In fact, our consciousness may persist long after the time someone is technically declared dead, wildly blurring the lines between living and dying—which could have some major implications for things like organ donation and the possibility of reversing death.
“We once thought death was an instantaneous event where if circulation and oxygen stops there is no brain function. The brain cells die and this is the end of life,” says Anna Fowler, student researcher at Arizona State University. But according to a talk she gave at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting about her research, there’s a lot more to the story.
Fowler was inspired to explore just what happens when we die or have a near-death experience after attending an event where a speaker shared their experience with A-fib—an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke, heart failure, and other heart complications. Her own mother’s experience with A-fib also inspired her work.
In her research—which is currently unpublished, but was overseen by ASU faculty members Marjon Forouzeshyekta, PhD, and Abigail Gómez-Morales, PhD—Fowler analyzed papers from more than 20 peer-reviewed journals, focusing on health events and near-death experiences in cardiac arrest patients, from studies on resuscitation and hypothermia to work on consciousness theories and brain function in coma patients.
Fowler’s findings indicate that consciousness during near-death experiences was similar to what the dying brain would experience. When a medical clinician indicates cardiac arrest has occurred—or that a patient has no pulse, no heartbeat, no breathing, and a lack of oxygen to the brain—EEG recordings, a measure of electrical activity in the brain, were similar to that of individuals in a coma. That suggests some level of consciousness persisted.
Fowler’s analysis revealed that survivors generally reported the near-death narrative we’re familiar with, including a replay of their lives, finding meaning, or feelings of love, after a cardiac arrest event. These experiences suggest organized surges of electrical activity occur in the brain, even during cardiac arrest.
This also suggests that death is not immediate, but a process. For example, in cardiac arrest, if circulation is not restored, the brain begins to shut down. First, activity that can be seen on an EEG will cease; then an ECoG (a more invasive type of EEG) reveals spreading depolarization, which can indicate brain death after a cardiac arrest; and finally death occurs, explains Fowler.
Aside from the physical signs of death, there’s also consciousness to consider. According to some theories, consciousness arises from these electrical surges, meaning your brain may still be firing when your heart stops beating. “Knowing that electrons can fire after circulation in the body stops is a huge thing that should be researched more,” Fowler says.
Previous research further supports the idea that consciousness persists after death as well. For instance, a 2023 study published in Resuscitation found that consciousness and awareness may occur during cardiac events. Patients recalled memories or dream-like experiences during cardiac arrest or resuscitation that suggest consciousness and cognitive activity occur during near-death experiences.
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