Hint of ‘life after death’

Scientists have found evidence awareness can continue for at least several minutes after clinical death which was previously thought to be impossible

Death is a depressingly inevitable consequence of life, but now scientists believe they may have found some light at the end of the tunnel. The largest ever medical study into near-death and out-of-body experiences has discovered some awareness may continue even after the brain has shut down completely.

It is a controversial subject which has, until recently, been treated with widespread scepticism. But scientists at the University of Southampton have spent four years examining nearly 2 000 people who had cardiac arrests at hospitals in the UK, US and Austria.

And they found nearly 40% of people who survived described some kind of “awareness” during the time when they were clinically dead before their hearts were restarted.

One man even recalled leaving his body entirely and watching his resuscitation from the corner of the room.