After the heart stops, how long is the brain conscious?

It is not by now that speculation about what happens to the human body after the heart stops beating compels scientists around the world to conduct further research. A new study by British researchers, which evaluated more than 2, 000 people, found something curious and a little frightening: human thinking really continues to exist even after the heart stops beating.

So far, it was believed that the human brain remained conscious for 30 seconds after the heart stopped pumping blood throughout the body, but new findings show that this time may be a little longer.

Research from the University of Southampton shows that it is possible to be aware for up to 3 minutes after the end of cardiac activities. "Contrary to popular belief, death is not a specific moment, but a potentially reversible process that occurs after any serious illness or accident that causes the heart, lungs and brain to stop working, " summarized Dr. Sam Parnia. .

Cardiac arrest and death

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Parnia explains that when this process is reversed, it is called "cardiac arrest, " but when it is not, it is called "death." The 2, 060 people who participated in the interview are patients from Austria, the US and the UK - all survivors of cardiac arrest. Of those, 40% said they remembered things even when they were considered clinically dead.

For Parnia, this may show that people have brain activity even when the heart is no longer functioning, and that those who are revived may forget about those moments, so they do not always talk about them. For others, these memories are portrayed as out-of-body experiences, which is the sensation of consciousness after death.

Of the volunteers, half said that the greatest feeling in those moments was that of fear. The study proved for the first time the out-of-body experience of a 57-year-old man who remembered what was happening around him, even during cardiac arrest, very accurately.

For Parnia, this is really important, since many of his experiences, which “died” and were revived, were interpreted as hallucinations. In these cases, according to the doctor, it is possible for a person to be conscious for up to 3 minutes, even without a heartbeat.