Researchers have presented intriguing findings suggesting a possible indication of the ‘soul’ departing from the body at the moment of death.
In a recent investigation, scientists analyzed brain activity in patients who were clinically dead. Dr. Stuart Hameroff, an anesthesiologist and professor at the University of Arizona, shared his perspectives on these findings.
In the study, small sensors were attached to the brains of seven critically ill patients with only a few minutes to live.
These advanced devices recorded each patient’s blood pressure and heart activity until both ceased completely, signaling the end of life.
The study’s results, as captured by an electroencephalogram (EEG), showed a peculiar surge of energy occurring after death.
Dr. Hameroff explained to Project Unity: “They saw everything go away and then [psh] you got this activity when there was no blood pressure, no heart rate.”
“So that could be the near-death experience, or it could be the soul leaving the body, perhaps,” he suggested.
He proposes that this activity might represent consciousness departing from the body, describing it as ‘the last thing to go’ in the process of dying.
“The point is it shows that consciousness is actually, probably, a very low energy process,” he noted.
“This has been a fairly reproducible event, not 100% like 50% of patients show this when you measure it,” he added.
The study researchers suggest the most likely reason for the observed bursts is the brain’s response to oxygen deprivation.
On “Through the Wormhole,” a Science Channel documentary series, Hameroff elaborated: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing; the microtubules lose their quantum state.”
“The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, and it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large,” he continued.
He further explained: “If the patient is resuscitated, or revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says ‘I had a near-death experience.’
“If they’re not revived, and the patient dies, it’s possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.”
The study’s team of experts concluded: “In our critical care practice, we spend a significant amount of time with grieving families. In these interactions, we have found that the idea that ‘something’ happens at the time of death is comforting to the families.”