Millions of people have reported near-death experiences since cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR, was invented in 1960, said Dr. Sam Parnia, an NYU Langone Health intensive care physician who has researched the phenomena for decades.
Parnia is the senior author of a new study designed to uncover what he calls the “hidden consciousness” of death by measuring electrical activity in the brain when the heart stops and breathing ceases.
“Many people report the same experience. Their consciousness became heightened and more vivid, and their thinking became sharper and clearer all while doctors like myself are trying to revive them and think they’re dead,” said Parnia, an associate professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City.
“They have a sensation they have separated from the body and can see and hear doctors and nurses, and they were able to report what doctors were doing to them in a 360-degree way that’s inexplicable to them,” he added.
