Near Death Experiences NDE

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Near Death Experiences(NDE)

• Presented by
• Jennifer Kwok
• Jennifer Tom
• Luong Phan

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(No Transcript)
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What is the near death experience?

• Occurs when a person enters clinical death and
  usually has a profound personal experience which
  can include

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What is the near death experience?

• Occurs when a person enters clinical death and
  usually has a profound personal experience which
  can include
• A sensation of leaving the body

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What is the near death experience?

• Occurs when a person enters clinical death and
  usually has a profound personal experience which
  can include
• A sensation of leaving the body
• Following a bright light

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What is the near death experience?

• Occurs when a person enters clinical death and
  usually has a profound personal experience which
  can include
• A sensation of leaving the body
• Following a bright light
• Encounter with a higher being (God, Buddha,
  Aliens, etc.)

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Background Information

• What is clinical death then?

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Background Information

• What is clinical death then?
• Clinical death no cardiac output, no
  respiration, fixed dilated pupils

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Background Information

• What is clinical death then?
• Clinical death no cardiac output, no
  respiration, fixed dilated pupils
• Focus of our research evidence are centered on
  cardiac arrest patients because they all exhibit
  clinical death

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Background Information

• Raymond Moody (1975)
• Wrote Life After Life
• First compilation of NDE survivor stories
• Coined the term near death experience

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Background Information

• Why care about NDE?
• NDE have been recorded through history and in
  many different cultures.
• Description of Ers experience in Platos
  Republic resemble modern NDEs.
• Best chance to study death because these patients
  return from dying

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Theorized Causes

• Disturbance of brain chemistry (Parnia 2001)
• alpha-endopsychosin, hypoxia, NDMA, etc.

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Theorized Causes

• Disturbance of brain chemistry (Parnia 2001)
• alpha-endopsychosin, hypoxia, NDMA, etc.
• Psychological response to perceived threat of
  death (Parnia 2001)
• Wish fulfillment in response to perceived threat
  of death

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Theorized Causes

• REM intrusion (Nelson 2006)
• When things normally experienced during sleep
  carry over into wakefulness

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Theorized Causes

• REM intrusion (Nelson 2006)
• When things normally experienced during sleep
  carry over into wakefulness
• Usually occurs before sleep or just after
  wakefulness

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Theorized Causes

• REM intrusion (Nelson 2006)
• When things normally experienced during sleep
  carry over into wakefulness
• Usually occurs before sleep or just after
  wakefulness
• Occurs in times of extreme stress in which one
  may be in REM sleep and partially awake at the
  same time

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Theorized Causes REM Int. Cont

• REM centers in the brainstem
• Higher brain areas in the cortex quickly blank
  out during hypoxia, the brainstem (since its
  more primitive) remains active for several
  minutes

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Theorized Causes REM Int. Cont

• REM centers in the brainstem
• Higher brain areas in the cortex quickly blank
  out during hypoxia, the brainstem (since its
  more primitive) remains active for several
  minutes
• An NDE that seems to last many minutes might
  occur in the few seconds right before or right
  after the cortex blanks out

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Theorized Causes REM Int. Cont

• REM centers in the brainstem
• Higher brain areas in the cortex quickly blank
  out during hypoxia, the brainstem (since its
  more primitive) remains active for several
  minutes
• An NDE that seems to last many minutes might
  occur in the few seconds right before or right
  after the cortex blanks out
• NDE may also be very brief but be perceived as
  prolong because REM compresses time

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Theorized Causes REM Int. Cont

• Vagus nerve A cranial nerve that connects the
  brainstem to the heart and lungs
• REM intrusion and the vagus nerve (Fox 2006)
• In times of extreme stress (heart attacks or near
  drowning) blood pressure or blood oxygen levels
  quickly drop, or levels of carbon dioxide in the
  blood quickly rise.
• This stimulates the vague nerve
• Since the REM centers are in the brainstem, this
  causes the REM centers to snap on without warning

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Theorized Causes REM Int. Cont

• Evidence for vagus nerve in REM intrusion (Fox
  2006)
• Animal studies
• When electrically stimulating the vagus nerve in
  various animal preparations, stimulation enhances
  REM and causes atonia
• Stimulating the vagus nerve in cats pushes them
  into REM sleep within 45 seconds
• Human studies
• Epilepsy patients whose condition is treated with
  implants stimulate their vagus nerve also slip
  more quickly into REM during daytime naps

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Theorized Causes REM Int. Cont

• Temporal-parietal junction (Fox 2006)
• Known to cause out-of-body sensations when it
  malfunctions
• Since it is located at the end of a tree of blood
  vessels, if blood pressure drops, perfusion in
  this area is first to go
• Thus if blood pressure drops when one is
  fainting, this explains why they may experience
  NDE-like symptoms

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Theorized Causes REM Int. Cont

• Could be possible that NDE enhances subsequent
  REM intrusion
• SUPPORTED by people with Post Traumatic Stress
  Disorder subsequently have more frequent REM
  intrusion

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• REM intrusion during wakefulness is a normal
  occurrence but infrequently recognized (Nelson
  2005)

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• REM intrusion during wakefulness is a normal
  occurrence but infrequently recognized (Nelson
  2005)
• Underlies other clinical conditions such as
  narcolepsy

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• Common feature of narcolepsy
• Neurological disorder characterized by
  uncontrollable bouts of sleep that can cause
  elaborate hallucinations and out-of-body
  experiences

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• Common feature of narcolepsy
• Neurological disorder characterized by
  uncontrollable bouts of sleep that can cause
  elaborate hallucinations and out-of-body
  experiences
• Narcoleptics REM systems can activate leading to
  out of body experiences

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• Common feature of narcolepsy
• Neurological disorder characterized by
  uncontrollable bouts of sleep that can cause
  elaborate hallucinations and out-of-body
  experiences
• Narcoleptics REM systems can activate leading to
  out of body experiences
• Combination of dreaming and wakefulness causes
  people with narcolepsy to recall their
  hallucinations vividly

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• Another form of REM intrusion is sleep paralysis
• Awaken with part of brain still in REM sleep so
  body feel paralyzed
• Result terrified that youre unable to move,
  visual/auditory hallucinations, and pressure on
  the chest

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• Nelson surveyed of REM intrusion 55 people who
  had NDE from a variety of situations and 55
  controls matched for age and gender
• Found that around 60 of NDE group reported
  having experiencing some kind of symptoms of REM
  intrusion, either before or after their NDE,
  compared with just 24 of the control
• REM intrusions in NDE group were more elaborate
  (not just sleep paralysis but also hallucinations

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Evidence REM intrusion and NDE

• Nelson surveyed of REM intrusion 55 people who
  had NDE from a variety of situations and 55
  controls matched for age and gender
• Not conclusive but good preliminary correlational
  experience
• Not conclusive because possible that REM
  intrusion makes you more susceptible to NDE also
  suggests that you do not need to have a
  near-death experience to have NDE

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Why NDE is an ASC

• NDE is a deviation from the normal waking state
• Experience clinical death
• Experience another reality
• Large population can experience NDE
• Prevalence of REM intrusion
• 10 cardiac arrest patients develop memories
  consistent with NDE
• What about the other 90? Still experience but
  dont remember?

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References

• Bosveld, Jane. "Soul Search Can Science Ever
  Decipher the Secrets of the Human Soul?" Discover
  magazine, June 2007.
• Fox, Douglas. "Light at the End of the Tunnel."
  New Scientist. Retrieved from the web,
  http//www.newscientist.com, 2008 March 3.
• Nelson, Kevin R., MD et al (2006). Does the
  arousal system contribute to near death
  experience? Neurology, 661003-1009.
• Parnia, Sam et al (2001). A qualitative and
  quantitative study of the incidence, features and
  aetiology of near death experiences in cardiac
  arrest survivors. Resuscitation,  48149-156.
• Parnia, Sam and Peter Fenwick (2002). Near death
  experiences in cardiac arrest visions of a dying
  brain or visions of a new science of
  consciousness. Resuscitation, 525-11.
• Wallace, Benjamin and Leslie E. Fisher.
  Consciousness and Behavior, Fourth Edition.
  Waveland Press Inc., Prospect Heights, pp.
  218-220.