Light at end of the tunnel for near-death experiences

Scientists have set out a standard definition for such events and guidelines on how to study them

NEAR-DEATH experiences, in which people see a tunnel of light, or undergo the strange sensation of floating above their bodies, have long been relegated to the realm of fringe science.

Now, according to an international team of researchers, it is time for the phenomenon to be taken seriously, not least because medicine is bringing more people back from the dead than ever before.

Experts from universities including New York, King’s College London, Harvard, California and Southampton have published the first ever consensus statement, setting out a standard definition for near-death experiences and guidelines for how to study such episodes.

They estimate that millions of people around the world have inhabited a “grey zone” between living and dying in which they have experienced “a specific narrative arc” involving separation from the body, a sense of travel to a place that feels like home and a meaningful review of their life. “People from all over the world who have come close to death report unique transcendent experiences, but these accounts are often pooh-poohed as weird anecdotes or something triggered by the brain shutting down,” said lead author Dr Sam Parnia, director of critical care and resuscitation research at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

“There hasn’t been a single common definition for what people experience, and the term ‘near-death experience’ has been used to refer to dreams or drug-induced hallucinations when it is something entirely different. We took hundreds of people’s experiences and merged them together so that we could pull out clusters of experiences and come up with a common definition.”

The team has proposed changing the terminology for near-death experiences to “recalled experience of death” – or RED – and has set out six components to judge whether a claim is authentic.

To qualify, the experience must be: linked to death; involve a loss of consciousness; bring a sense of transcendence; be somewhat indescribable; bring a positive transformation; and be free of other coma-related experiences, such as dreams and delirium.

The new guidelines aim to separate REDs from other phenomena, such as post-intensive care syndrome, where people in a coma report dreams or wake briefly without realising, and misrecall events happening around them.

Dr Parnia said soon-to-be published research will show that around 15 per cent of people who have been resuscitated from a coma after cardiac arrest have a recalled experience of death.

Many people remember leaving their body but still being aware of “self ”.

Some report being able to see in all directions, or hovering in space, sometimes connected to their own body by a cord. Others recall being drawn through a tunnel or seeing their entire life in review, including how their actions affected others.

The researchers argue such experiences share common, universal themes and are entirely different from haphazard dreams, hallucinations or illusions. People often wake up profoundly changed, no longer fearing death and determined to live a better life.