A controversial scientific study has found that consciousness may persist after death, in a new proposition that calls for a reconsideration of the traditional concept of death as a final and immediate moment.
The study suggests viewing death as a gradual process that can extend over a period of time after the cessation of essential bodily functions. While science has traditionally defined death as the irreversible loss of brain function and blood circulation, a growing number of researchers are beginning to question this definition, citing evidence that some manifestations of consciousness may persist even after apparent brain activity has ceased.
A researcher from Arizona State University conducted a broad scientific review that included dozens of studies that dealt with what happens to a person at death, including near-death experience research, studies of electrical activity in the brains of dying people, and clinical research on the level of consciousness during heart attacks.
The analysis revealed that approximately 20% of cardiac arrest survivors reported recalling conscious experiences during periods when the brain was thought to have ceased functioning. Furthermore, brain recordings from dying humans and animals have shown neural activity levels exceeding those of normal waking activity.
In other cases, some patients who experienced a complete cessation of blood circulation—that is, when the heart stopped beating—showed a subsequent ability to implicitly recall what was happening around them, raising questions about when consciousness actually ceased.
Laboratory experiments have also shown that metabolism, brain activity, and blood flow can be restored in the brains and organs of mammals after periods that exceed previously accepted limits, which, according to researcher Anna Fowler, indicates that biological death does not occur instantly and irreversibly.
Fowler explained during the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference that recent evidence indicates that biological and neurological functions do not stop suddenly, but rather decline gradually over minutes or even hours, meaning that death is a gradual process and not an instantaneous event.
She added that these results may lead to a redefinition of death as a process that can be intervened in at various stages, which may affect future medical resuscitation mechanisms and organ donation timings, especially given studies indicating that neural activity in the brain may continue for up to 90 minutes after death is declared.
In the same context, Dr. Sam Parnia, director of critical care and resuscitation research at NYU Langone School of Medicine, pointed out that some people may be able to hear the announcement of their death, as a result of continued brain activity for a period after the heart stops.
His research, which included survivors of near-death experiences, showed cases of patients who were considered clinically dead before being resuscitated later, who were able to describe conversations and events that took place in their surroundings with remarkable accuracy.
Although doctors usually rely on cardiac arrest to determine the time of death, as it is the moment when blood flow to the brain stops, a 2023 study detected spikes in brain waves associated with thinking, memory, and consciousness during CPR that lasted up to an hour after cardiac arrest.
These results conclude that death may not represent an immediate end to life, but rather a complex transitional phase, which calls for a reassessment of its scientific, medical and ethical understanding in light of new research data.
