Nobody roll in the hay what happens to us after death — but plenty of mass believe they ’ve had a sneak peep . As Doctor of the Church get better and better at resuscitate people who have reached death ’s door , the number of people who report have a Near Death Experience ( NDE ) has hold up way up . One in 20 hoi polloi in the United States has had one . People usually seem to come by from these thing feeling comforted and spiritually engaged . By all account , they can be life - changing experience .
So how do you go about having a Near - Death Experience on purpose ? obviously it ’s way leisurely than the Joel Schumacher moving picture Flatlinerswould have you believe .
destruction Is A Lonely Hang - Glider
carefulness : None of the proficiency talk over in this article should be tried at home . The expert we talked to were very deliberate to target out that these are technique that can be strain in an experimental stage setting , under expert assistance . DO NOT TRY ANY OF THIS STUFF ON YOUR OWN . give thanks you .
Top range : Rajiv Patel / Flickr.com .
First of all , we should define our terms , and sum up what research worker appear to have rule out about this more and more common phenomenon .
It ’s a misnomer , because it has nothing to do with death .
That ’s good . You do n’t need to be near dying to have a Near Death Experience . In fact , a innovational 1990 studyfound that out of 58 patients who cover having a Near Death Experience , only 28 were “ so close to demise that they would have died without aesculapian intervention . ” Writes investigator Justine Owens , “ the other 30 patient were not in danger of dying , although most of them think they were . ”
“ There ’s almost no difference between the mathematical group that was medically in peril and the group that was not , ” enjoin Kevin R. Nelson , a neurologist at University of Kentucky . “ That recount us that it ’s not being near death itself necessarily , there ’s another physiological trigger . ” ( It is dead on target that the patients who were actually near dying appeared to have slightly stronger light effects and more “ enhance cognitive powers , ” according to the study . )
They seem most common in cardiac catch patient .
That ’s the universe who ’s most potential to report them , says Keith Augustine with Internet Infidels . When researchers seek out universe that have spontaneously experienced NDEs , they take care at cardiac arrest patients , says Augustine , who ’s write a prolonged debunking of NDEshere .
It may be do by want of blood period to the brain .
That ’s what Nelson trust . Hestudied a group of 55 people(PDF ) who reported Near Death Experiences , and the “ proximate lawsuit ” was , in essence , that the patients blacked out . “ We call it blacking out , because your vision blacks out from deficiency of descent flow to the Einstein , ” says Nelson , who’swritten a book call The God Impulse . “ That is the most common lawsuit . ”
In fact , a German investigator , Thomas Lempert , did an experimentin the early 1990s where he caused 40 college student to faint . And he found that fainting caused similar effects to Near Death Experiences , because in both display case the limbic centre of the mental capacity was “ dying . ” Like near - decease patients , people who fainted experient comparable rates of out - of - body experiences , light burrow , meet with nonnatural beings , a flavour of “ peace of mind and painlessness , ” and “ recruit another world . ” The main remainder : people who conk did not rewind their lives , nor did they glimpse the future . Image viaYhancik / Flickr .
It could be something kindred to woolgather in danger .
Nelson ’s own theory is that it ’s not just blood personnel casualty in the brain , it ’s actually something akin to what happens in REM sleep , combined with your “ fight or flight ” replete kick in . Nelson studied one of the other documented NDEs documented by psychologist Raymond Moody in 1975 : A woman list Mrs. Martin put up cardiac arrest , and hear her radiologist cry her medico to say that he ’d kill her . She knew she was n’t dead , but could n’t move .
Pondering the specifics of Mrs. Martin ’s condition , Nelson realize that her experience of “ transient palsy ” was similar to what everyone does when we dream . The encephalon only has three possible states : awake , non - REM sleep , or rapid eye movement sleep sleep . Meanwhile , “ there ’s a strong connection between the fight - or - flight response and REM sleep consciousness , ” says Nelson . During “ moments of great hazard and risk , ” we change to “ a blended consciousness United States Department of State , one that immingle REM and consciousness . ”
Other explanations :
Other experts have come up with various theories to explicate NDEs : they ’re a psychological land in which someone retrovert to childhood to protect the ego . They ’re alike to a temporal lobe epilepsy . They ’re a monolithic endorphin release , like runner ’s high on a immense scurf . They ’re a result of parentage gases . “ Near Death Experience ” is really a catch - all term to refer to a figure of different phenomena . And so on .
you’re able to most definitely have a Near Death Experience on aim , says Nelson . It ’s not even difficult — although be aware that not everybody has them . Some hoi polloi never have them , no matter what .
And the other just news ? You do n’t require to stop your eye to have an NDE . “ That ’s a very common misconception , ” say Nelson . Your brain does n’t know or give care why it ’s getting less lineage flow — a cardiac arrest feel the same as a monolithic haemorrhage , or any other cause of blood passing . As long as you ’re reducing blood flow to your brainiac , you have a decent opportunity of receive an NDE .
Try fainting .
Let ’s go back to Lempert ’s experiments , which proved that fainting was interchangeable to NDEs . The causa of fainting is the brain not convey enough origin flow . And it ’s well-to-do enough to make yourself faint , says Nelson :
you’re able to do the old party trick , where you hunker down and hyperventilate , and that closes the blood vessels to the brain . Then they ’ll do a Valsalva [ manoeuvre ] which is breathing against their arm usually . And then stand up cursorily . So if all of that is forecast to quickly come down ancestry menstruum to the brain , then the person will pass out . And with that fainting , you could have a Near Death Experience . In fact , I had one like that myself as a kid . As a escapade , we induced fainting . We were wager around and did a faint , and I believe I ’d had an ESP experience .
Image viaMike_tn / Flickr .
The context of the fainting may be of import — because there ’s that element of “ fight or flying ” that ’s present in NDEs , which is n’t there if you ’re just fainting on purpose . “ If you ’re present , say , imminent risk like a wild creature about to swoop on you or someone pointing a gun at you , the circumstance of the fainting likely wager into this , ” order Nelson . On the other hired man , if you ’re trying to revivify a Near Death Experience at home , you could try fainting over and over again , and this will increase your prospect .
Caution : Some of the experts we talk to for this clause cautioned against attain yourself faint on intention using the Valsalva tactical maneuver . “ This is a ‘ do not strain this at home ’ method , ” says anesthesiologist G.M. Woerlee . At the very least , you should get expert supervision before you start trying to make yourself black out .
Convince a Surgeon to give you the “ Standstill ” procedure
If making yourself faint does n’t go — or it ’s just not hardcore enough for you — then you’re able to seek to convince a surgeon to perform the hypothermic cardiac arrest , or “ tie-up , ” operation on you . This is a good but fairly new process in which the wit is deprived of blood .
Explains Augustine :
In the standstill procedure physical structure temperature is lower to around 60 degrees F and the heart is stop so that blood period to the wit can be stopped , for instance to process on an aneurysm , after which body temperature is restored . The hypothermia slow up metamorphosis so that brain cell do not die out during the procedure ( severe brain damage would for certain result , if not irreversible destruction itself , without the hypothermic conditions ) .
Image viaTrois Têtes ( TT)/Flickr .
This is a fair secure operation , since it ’s under controlled luck . But evidently , draining your brain of blood is not something you really want to do on a lark . Speaking of which …
ego - suffocation :
Do not do this , says Nelson . Every year , “ ten-spot of kids ” die from stifle themselves to experience an rhapsodic state of cognisance . fundamentally , by hanging themselves . This is incredibly dangerous , and not something anybody should be encouraging .
You ca n’t have a Near Death Experience with a medically induced coma , says anesthesiologist Gerard Woerlee , who ’s written a pile about NDEs . “ Coma is a state of unconsciousness , and NDEs are definitely a state of cognisance . ” But he says there is one way of cause NDEs pharmacologically : Take ketamine , an anaesthetic and creature tranquilizer .
Psychologist Karl L.R. Jansen did a huge survey of “ The Ketamine Model of the Near - Death Experience ” in 1997 . And he found that about 30 percent of multitude using Ketamine have NDE - similar hallucinations . write Jansen :
I have experience several NDEs and have also been administered ketamine as an anesthetic and within observational paradigms . The NDEs and the ketamine experiences were very similar … Ketamine produced travel through a tunnel , egression into the light , and a “ telepathic ” exchange with an entity that could be described as “ God , ” although I have no religious beliefs and had no particular expectations on first experience the drug .
But Woerlee caution : “ This is one of those ‘ Do n’t try this at base ’ drugs . ” paradigm viaWilliam Gibson Kiel / Flickr .
The absolute safe and easy way to have a Near Death Experience , says Woerlee , is exemplify bythis cartoon . “ Scares the living daylights out of the family , too , ” he adds .
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