A groundbreaking research study focusing on what happens to people when their hearts stop beating has provided new insights into near-death experiences and an afterlife. When someone’s heart stops, they’re usually considered unconscious and teetering between life and death. However, this study challenges that notion.
According to the research, forty percent of individuals who received CPR and survived a cardiac arrest reported having memories, dream-like experiences, or some form of awareness even when unconscious.
Researchers have put forth the idea that certain individuals might be aware of their surroundings, with evidence pointing to brain activity occurring, in some cases, as much as an hour before they were brought back to consciousness.
According to Dr. Sam Parnia, the lead researcher from the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health, cardiac arrest is an incredibly critical situation. He said, “There’s nothing more extreme than cardiac arrest because they’re literally teetering between life and death, [and] they’re in a deep coma, and…don’t respond to us physically at all.”
He further said, “What we’re able to show is that up to [forty percent] of people actually have a perception of having been conscious to some extent.”
Transcendent recalled experiences of death
In the study, six patients shared what the researchers referred to as “transcendent recalled experiences of death,” which are often associated with what people commonly think of as near-death experiences or life after death.
Dr. Parnia explained that these individuals described various aspects of their experiences, including having a review of their lives or feeling like they were in a place that resembled their home.
Different experiences or dreams
Several patients could recall their medical treatment, including feelings of pain, pressure, or hearing the voices of doctors. Other patients remembered experiences that resembled dreams, such as being pursued by the police or getting caught in the rain.
Some participants had positive memories, such as seeing a bright light, tunnel, or family member. They also described intense emotions such as love, tranquility, and peace.
However, there were also individuals who felt a sense of separation from their own bodies and recognized that they had died or experienced delusions involving monsters or faceless figures.
Research conducted on survivors of cardiac arrest
The research, published in the journal Resuscitation, involved the monitoring of 567 individuals who had undergone cardiac arrest resuscitation at twenty-five different hospitals. Sadly, fewer than ten percent of these patients survived, and the researchers were able to conduct interviews with twenty-eight out of the fifty-three survivors.
Does the writer of the article believe this purported cardiac arrest survivor is describing something that actually happened? Because this paragraph is medically nonsensical on many levels. Can't your editors get these articles reviewed by someone with a medical background? pic.twitter.com/KycPomJffF
— Realroccolefkowitz (@RoccoLefkowitz2) September 14, 2023
Eleven individuals reported that they could remember or had sensations of being awake during the resuscitation process. This implies that there might be some level of consciousness during the revival efforts.
In some patients, the researchers also measured brain oxygen levels and electrical activity. They found specific brainwave patterns, suggesting that there was some mental activity occurring while CPR was being administered.
Dr. Sheldon Cheskes, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Toronto who specialized in cardiac arrest resuscitation and was not part of the study, expressed his amazement, stating, “You would never have known that without being able to do that brainwave monitoring.”
What happens during a cardiac arrest?
During a cardiac arrest, the heart experiences chaotic and uncoordinated contractions, causing blood flow throughout the body, including to the brain, to stop. It’s important to note that, unlike a heart attack, a person in cardiac arrest is always unconscious.
The researchers also examined whether patients could remember particular sights or sounds, a phenomenon known as implicit learning.
To investigate this, the researchers placed headphones on patients while they were undergoing resuscitation. They played three words—apple, pear, banana—and simultaneously displayed ten images using a tablet.
Among the twenty-eight patients who were interviewed, only one person correctly remembered the sequence of the three words, and none of them could recall the images shown.
Dr. Katherine Berg, who serves as an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chairs the writing group for the 2025 American Heart Association post-cardiac arrest care guidelines, shared her perspective.
She said, “I hope that studies like this one will prompt physicians to ask cardiac arrest survivors about these memories and experiences and assess for any post-traumatic stress or other psychological symptoms that might need to be addressed.”
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