Here’s what you’ll learn from reading this story:
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Near-death experiences, or NDEs, are unusual psychological phenomena triggered by encounters with death, such as feelings of extreme joy or out-of-body experiences.
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A pair of new studies explore the long-term impact these events can have, especially on the way people dream.
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Studies show that people who experience NDEs regularly show increased dream recall and lucidity, and even report having precognitive dreams.
In some ways, the human brain is still extremely mysterious. Scientists have mapped its synapses and neurons in extraordinary detail, yet subjective consciousness—the experience of feeling like you—still defies efforts to fully explain it. 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 more than one-fifth of people experiencing life-threatening medical emergencies. Although these descriptions may vary (especially with age), some common features of NDEs have emerged over nearly 50 years of research: intense emotions of peace and joy, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), encounters with dead relatives, altered perception of time, and increased clarity of mind, among others. Interestingly, the accounts of those who nearly died seem to contradict what scientists predict will happen in 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 delved into the profound effects NDEs can have on individuals throughout their lives, especially in the realm of dreams. In the first study published in the journal DreamingResearchers interviewed 138 people who had experienced NDEs, 45 of whom were close to death but didn’t experienced NDE and 129 people who had never experienced it. Using the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire, or MADRE, a well-known psychological tool used to assess aspects of dreams such as recall, emotional intensity and lucidity, Lindsay’s team found that people who experienced NDEs had greater recall and dream intensity and more interesting and more positive dreams than groups that did not experience NDEs.
“I have always been interested in unusual states of consciousness since I was very young, and I myself have experienced a number of extraordinary or expanded states of consciousness,” said Lindsay, the study’s lead author. PsyPost website. “Near-death experiences (NDEs) provide insight into how consciousness functions under extreme conditions, including cases where the physical body is inactive.”
Now, in a new qualitative study published in the journal The psychology of consciousness: Theory, research and practiceLindsay and her colleagues reveal details of how individuals’ dreams changed dramatically after NDE. In one example, a participant named Basil said he could confidently recall one or two dreams a week, but after a near-death experience, the recall became a nightly occurrence. Others report that dreams become intensely vivid after an NDE and that the separation between dreaming and waking becomes much more blurred than before.
The article delves into reports of extreme rates of lucid dreaming, OBEs, past life dreams, and even in some cases, precognition.
“The changes described by participants reflect broader shifts in personal identity, spirituality, and perception of reality — a process that appears to be initiated by the NDE itself, then sustained and enhanced through dream states,” the authors write. “Dreams may therefore serve as a continuation or extension of the state of consciousness accessed during NDE.”
However, in these studies, the authors were unable to identify the exact mechanism by which dreams appear to be fundamentally altered after NDE. In other words, it’s another mystery of the mind that remains unsolved.
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