Explaining near death experiences

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study suggests that those who have near death experiences may have differences in their sleep-wake cycles.
Many people have reported near death experiences, which involve an 'out of the body' feeling, with seeing an intense light and a feeling of great peace - all of which occurs during a life threatening episode. Now researchers at the University of Kentucky reveal that there could be an explanation for this strange phenomenon in terms of sleep-wake cycles.

They compared 55 people who had had near death experiences with 55 who had not. Those in the first group were more likely to have a sleep-wake system in which the boundaries between sleeping and waking were somewhat blurred. That is, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep which is characteristic of sleep and dreaming could intrude into normal wakeful consciousness. When this happens, you may have experiences like waking up and feeling paralyzed or hearing sounds just before falling asleep or waking up that others cannot hear.

In the group that had had near death experiences 60 per cent reported this kind of intrusion, compared with 24 per cent in the group that did not have near death experiences. The findings suggest that REM intrusion therefore at least contributes the the strange phenomenon of the near death experience.

Source
Neurology 11th April 2006

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