Here’s what you’ll learn as you read this story:
-
Near-death experiences, or NDEs, are unusual psychological events triggered by a brush with death, such as feelings of overwhelming joy or out-of-body experiences.
-
A new pair of studies explores the lasting impact these events can have, specifically on how people dream.
-
Studies show that people who experience NDEs regularly show increased dream recall and lucidity, and also report precognitive dreams.
In some ways, the human brain remains deeply mysterious. Scientists have mapped its synapses and neurons in extraordinary detail, yet subjective consciousness—the experience of being you—still defies attempts at a complete explanation. However, researchers have a fascinating window into that inner world: near-death experiences, or NDEs.
As the name suggests, near-death experiences are altered states of consciousness reported by one-fifth of people who experience a life-threatening medical emergency. Although these details may vary (especially with age), some common characteristics of NDEs have emerged in nearly 50 years of research: intense feelings of peace and joy, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), encounters with dead relatives, altered perception of time, and heightened clarity, among others. Interestingly, these accounts of nearly dead people seem to contradict what scientists expect of the brain as its regions begin to shut down one by one.
Nicole Lindsay of Massey University in New Zealand has been studying NDEs since 2018, and in two new studies, Lindsay and her team delve deeper into the profound effects NDEs can have on people throughout life, especially in the dreaming realm. In the first study, published in the journal dreamingThe researchers interviewed 138 people who had experienced an NDE, including 45 people who had come close to death. did not Experience NDEs, and 129 people who have not. Using the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire, or MADRE, a well-known psychological tool used to assess aspects of dreams such as recall, emotional intensity, and vividness, Lindsay’s team found that people who experienced NDEs had more positive dreams than the non-NDE groups in terms of dream recall and vividness and, interestingly,
“I’ve been interested in unusual states of consciousness since I was young, I’ve experienced many unusual or expanded states of consciousness myself,” said Lindsay, lead author of the study. Website PsyPost. “Near-death experiences (NDEs) provide insight into how consciousness functions under extreme conditions, potentially in the absence of a functioning physical body.”
Now, in a new qualitative study published in the journal Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and PracticeLindsey and her colleagues reveal details of how people’s dreams changed after an NDE. In one example, a participant named Basil said that he could reliably recall a dream every week or two, but after his near-death experience, that recall occurred at night. Others report that dreams after an NDE are intensely vivid and that the division between dreaming and waking is more blurred than before.
The article goes on to explore reports of lucid dreaming, OBEs, past life dreams, and even in some cases, extreme cases of precognition.
“The changes described by participants reflected broader changes in personal identity, spirituality, and perception of reality—a process that appears to be initiated by the NDE itself and then maintained and enhanced through dream states,” the authors write. “Thus, dreams can potentially serve as a continuation or extension of the state of consciousness accessed during the NDE.”
However, the authors of these studies were unable to identify the exact mechanism by which dreams are fundamentally altered after an NDE. In other words, it is another mystery of the mind that remains unsolved.
You might like it too
