Scientists Poo-Poo Your Near-Death Experience
An unfortunate fact of human existence is that we will all, someday, die. But the lucky ones among us will get to have a near-death experience, bounce back, wake up renewed, and tell everyone about how we saw the light or a reaching hand or heard a very important message (like the Lotto numbers, for instance) before waking up to the smiling faces around us. Maybe we'll even sell some books about our true story, once we get out of the hospital, and make some money! Alas, scientists now want to destroy that dream. According to research from Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities, those scenarios that make waking up to friends and family that much more satisfactory "can be explained by the brain trying to make sense of the process of death."
For example,
Researcher Caroline Watt said one common vision - that of people seeing a bright light which seems to be drawing them into the afterlife - is probably produced by the death of the cells we use to process the light picked up by our eyes and turn it into pictures.
Other research indicates that a hormone released when people suffer from stress and injuries may cause the feelings of "love and peace" some experience as they seem to approach death.
Scientists! Must you ruin everything?
There are a few, fortunately, who say that just because you can't trace something back to the brain doesn't mean it's not real...not that we'd want them medicating us, necessarily.
For the record: We will always support you by at least pretending to believe in your near-death experience. Even you, Colton Burpo.
An out-of-body experience? It's just your brain playing tricks on you [Daily Mail]
[JDoll / @thisisjendoll]
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