Posted on 03/07/2007 5:05:33 PM PST by LibWhacker
Sleep holds the key to understanding these mystical events, reports Roger Highfield
People who have out-of-body experiences near death, such as flying along a tunnel towards a heavenly light, are more likely to suffer a strange effect called sleep paralysis, according to a survey that adds to mounting evidence for a biological explanation for this mystical experience.
During sleep paralysis, people experience a kind of breakdown between states of consciousness which takes place on the fringe of slumber, either when falling asleep or awakening. Because the brain turns off the body's ability to move during dreaming, muscles can lose their tone, or tension, causing the paralysis. advertisement
The details of sleep paralysis vary from person to person. Some hear vague rustling sounds, indistinct voices and demonic gibberish. Others see hallucinations of humans, animals and supernatural creatures. There is a striking inability to move or to speak, or a weight on the chest. Also common are feelings of rising off the bed, flying, or hurtling through spiral tunnels. In addition, people report out of body experiences, sometimes accompanied by "autoscopy" when they look down on themselves. Not surprisingly, these bizarre experiences - called REM intrusions by scientists - are accompanied by fear and terror.
Throughout history, there have also been accounts of people experiencing visions on the brink of death, what are now called near-death experiences. Now the two odd effects are linked by a study that backs the idea that the near-death experience is a biological experience, rather than anything to do with a larger, spiritual dimension, a glimpse of heaven, or the existence of the soul.
People who have had near-death experiences are also likely to have suffered sleep paralysis, according to the survey published by a team in Neurology, led by Prof Kevin Nelson from the University of Kentucky, Lexington. "We found it surprising that out-of-body experience with sleep transition seemed very much like out-of-body experience during near death," Prof Nelson said.
In a survey of 55 people who had a "near death experience" - defined as a time during a life-threatening episode when a person experienced a variety of feelings, including unusual alertness, seeing an intense light, and a feeling of peace - he found that three quarters had an out of body experience and half of them had also felt they had left their body during the transition between wakefulness and sleep. "We found that 96% (24 of 25) of near death subjects having sleep paralysis also had an out-of-body experience either during sleep transition or near death," said Prof Nelson.
In a control group of 55 people, three reported that they had an out of body experience. Significantly, two of them also suffered sleep paralysis. Prof Nelson believes this suggests that the same brain circuitry plays a role, probably the amygdala, two almond shaped regions either side of the brain that play a role in emotions or the temporo-parietal junction on the surface of the brain. "I am a firm believer in biology," Prof Nelson said yesterday.
The temporo-parietal cortex is important for integrating information from the eyes, ears and body that contribute to the orientation and position of self in space. Prof Nelson points out that electrical stimulation of this region produces out of body experiences. Prof Olaf Blanke, and colleagues at Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland, used electrodes to stimulate the brain of a 43-year-old woman who had epilepsy for 11 years to find the origin of her seizures. Stimulating one spot - called the angular gyrus of her right cortex - repeatedly caused out-of-body experiences.
At low levels of stimulation, the patient felt as if she was sinking into the bed or falling. At high levels, "I see myself lying in bed, from above," she told them, adding that she felt as if she was levitating. Prof Blanke now at The Ecole Polytechnique De Lausanne, said that the angular gyrus and the adjacent region - the temporo-parietal cortex - may match information from the brain's visual system, which sees the body, with those that feel one's body, using touch and balance as well as movement information. When they become dissociated, an out-of-body experience might result.
This goes awry in near death experiences perhaps as a result of the brain being starved of oxygen, activating brain regions that are also active during the dream state to create the out of body experience. Two years ago, Prof Blanke also published work that suggested the temporo-parietal cortex is one of the first areas to suffer and be damaged when the brain is deprived of oxygen.
Tales of sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis survey site
The sleep paralysis that is linked with out of body experiences was once thought rare. But studies by Kazuhiko Fukuda, a professor at Fukushima University in Japan, suggest that it may strike between 40 percent and 60 percent of all people at least once.
Over the past decade, Allan Cheyne of the University of Waterloo in Canada has now collected around 30,000 tales of sleep paralysis. Many report sensations of floating, flying, falling, or leaving one's body.
Floating range from relatively tranquil experiences, during which one respondent reported, "I feel sort 'wrapped in cloud'," to (somewhat rarer) violent experiences in which one can "even feel the blow of wind across me as if traveling in air at high speed. Horrible sensations of falling or rising at high speed. Like a lift or driving down a hill. G- acceleration and deceleration. Almost makes you want to throw up."
Another told Dr Cheyne: " I've actually been floating above myself, and seeing myself in the bed... it was quite disturbing." And one remarked: "I experienced one 'out of body' episode where I floated around my bedroom and could clearly see myself sleeping. When I went back into my body, I felt like I was drifting down on a parachute. It was slow and pleasant. I re-entered my body abruptly and couldn't move for several seconds. On a couple of occasions I've felt that I was being sucked out of my body by my feet and struggled to resist it. I always try to wake up before it happens to me again. "
kinda like seeing Helen Thomas pictures.
Nah..they're wrong..it's space aliens.
Don't buy it. If you read the accounts of people who have claimed to have near death experiences, they read as accounts of things that the amygdala inadequate to be the mediator for. If one was to account for them with neuronal activity, you'd have to resort to significant activity in the cerebral cortext to get there.
In the end, this article amounts to nothing more than one professor's belief - which, by the way, contradicts what we know about neuroscience.
Don't believe out of body experiences that involve feelings of going to the light or seeing angels could be fear or terror
"In the end, this article amounts to nothing more than one professor's belief - which, by the way, contradicts what we know about neuroscience."
It doesn't contradict neuroscience, rather it shows how limited our knowledge is of the brain / mind connection.
I have a friend, (I don't think she would mind me telling her story) who will remain anonymous, who claims she died. She did see Christ, who told her to "hold on to life" and He sent her back. While she was with Him, she noticed a gate with a door. The door was only open a little bit, she could have never passed through.
She came back and is now a Eucharistic Minister to the homebound. She is a wonderful and holy woman.
bttt
I experience sleep paralysis from time to time. Never had an OBE or an NDE. Mine is the more mundane version as described in the article. It happens when I'm coming awake, but equidistant from both sleep and consciousness. I hear mumbling or laughter or some such thing, often feel like I'm being pulled or sucked down a vortex, all accompanied by an immense feeling of terror that causes me to scream myself awake. The first time it happened, I was pretty scared afterward. Now, I sort of know what to expect, and know that it's natural, so depending on how conscious I am, it's more of an annoyance than anything. Sort of like, "okay, let's get this overwith." Happens very rarely, thankfully.
When I was a young man I smoked pot and tried other illicit drugs. I actually OD'd on PCP/speed and was hospitilized for several days before recovering consciousness. I believe I all but died (maybe did die) in this incident. I remember entering heaven. I had on an oversized robe (it didn't fit yet because I wasn't ready for it)and was hooping and hollering that I had actually made it to heaven. People I knew told me I had to go back, it wasn't my time yet. I didn't want to leave, I didn't think I would ever make it back. An unknown young woman told me I had to go back. She got through to me and I said OK. It still took a couple of years before I gave my life completely to Christ. I have come to believe the unknown young woman was my daughter who was born years later and is now a lovely Christian young woman. I know this sounds kookish but I don't think all of this was some biomechanical response to oxygen deprivation/chemical halluicintion, etc. I think it was the mercy of the Living God.
This is just something I once read and cannot vouch for other than saying that. But if it is so, then there are death experiences no matter what this person in this study says.
Wow - that's wild stuff. I never heard of this. Do you know what percentage of the population experiences it?
No clue. Haven't really looked into it.
I have had long periods of time where I have suffered from sleep paralysis. It is indisious and very frightening.
You may be right, but then you have to wonder just how many NDEs, if any, are what they purport to be, and how many are just our brains giving out. I've heard that folks in Southeast Asia interact with their deities when they experience an NDE.
Stopped reading right there. That's bull.
A long-long time ago --- I used to pitch softball and during one game, I had a hard-hit line drive right back at my face. I caught the ball with no problem and even doubled the guy off first who had broken for second when the batter swung. I didn't think anything of it at the time.
But that night, this was only a few weeks after I got married, I had a 'flashback dream', where that ball was coming right at my face and I reacted by thrashing my "glove hand" and ended up smacking my sleeping wife right in the face. We both woke up and my bride wondered what the hell hit her and as I tried to explain, --- well, it just made it worse. ;~))
Yes, you can move during dreams.
I used to also get frequent out of body experiences when I was a young kid. Always happened when I was wide awake and not near death by any means. Never was scared by them and even looked forward to them. But I haven't had one now in about 40 years.
Dallas59, if I have a nightmare tonight, I'll have to blame you for posting Helen Thomas's photo. It makes me nervous.
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