In the largest study of its kind, scientists at the University of Southampton examined more than 2,000 cases from hospitals in the US, UK and Austria of people who had suffered a cardiac arrest before being successfully resuscitated.
What they found was that in as many as 40 percent of cases the subject recalled maintaining some level of awareness during the period of time in which they would have been clinically dead.
In one particularly interesting case, a 57-year-old man vividly recalled floating up above his body for three minutes while observing medical staff attempting to save him. He was later able to recall explicit details about what they had been doing and about the sounds that he had heard around him.
"We know the brain can’t function when the heart has stopped beating," said study leader Dr Sam Parnia. "But in this case, conscious awareness appears to have continued for up to three minutes into the period when the heart wasn’t beating, even though the brain typically shuts down within 20-30 seconds after the heart has stopped. "
A significant number of patients also reported the typical 'tunnel of light' vision described during near-death experiences as well as a sense of overwhelming peacefulness.
Dr Parnia believes that many more patients may experience such things but are unable to remember due to the drugs or sedatives used by doctors during efforts to resuscitate them.
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