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. "
I wonder what caused them?
Yeah, Professor Secular whatever it takes..but by whatever roundabout method of scientific-method tortuosity you use to get there, none of that God and Heaven superstititious nonsense. Right? Don't wanna jeopardize the grant money gravy train.
So the mystery of what starts the baby's heart beating inside his mother's womb can be explained by String Theory, I suppose.
It must have been so hard to return, but obviously our beautiful Lord has work for you to do.
I have very occasional sleep paralysis, OBEs and lucid dreams.
My OBEs always begin with a really odd rushing sound in the head that is hard to describe....sort of a cross between a sound and the buzzy sensation you get when your leg goes to sleep on you.
No..I don't smoke weed, drink or take dope.
I have no idea. They could happen at any time and for no apparent reason. This article seems to suggest they only happen at times of great trauma, but that wasn't my experience at all -- thankfully!
My brother used to get them, too. So I think it's some kind of physical process with a strong genetic component.
These so called doctors can somehow say that there is no such thing as spiritual dimension. NDE Seeing the White Light, Speaking to God or Jesus, But yet they can not explain how pvs patients and brain injury patients are waking up after years in a coma, able to tell their stories of a Spiritual Healing. Just today in the news a woman woke from a 6 year coma and the doctors called it a Miracle, a Mystery.
Yep had a nightmare once after reading a Stephen King book. Woke up standing on my bed like I was running in place. So if you can't move while your dreaming, I want to know who came in my room and stood me upright while I was in this dream state. LOl woke up in bootcamp one time sitting in bed shining my boots in the dark.
No, I think the writer was not clear. I think he meant that during sleep paralysis the brain turns off the body's ability to move. It is well know that people can move while dreaming. I do it, my wife does it, my dog does it, and probably most people do it. Sleepwalkers do it.
But having had about 5-6 episodes of sleep paralysis, it is true that you are imobile. The first time I had it I was very young and remember being scared to death. Later ones were just a bit scary, but no horror stories. It usually happens when I sleep on my back, which is rarely. But if you feel paralysis, they say to just concentrate on moving a toe or finger rather than your arms or legs. As soon as that connection is made, click, the rest quickly snap on.
And you eventually realize that these things are harmless, which makes it an intellectual project rather than emotional.
Also, it is not the same thing as sleeping on your arm and having it 'fall asleep.' This is the whole body, and there is no tingling as it comes back. It is instant, at least for me, but the several second delay is a bit scary.
Luckily I haven't had any in about 3 or 4 years.
Although I did get the falling sensation mine were mostly the complete paralysis and a sense that I couldn't move and there was something bad happening. Complete helplessness.
NDE info really is above my pay grade. In the words of Brother Dave Gardner, I just doesn't know.
Yikes. I'll stick to line drives, thank you.
BTW. Better take that gun out of the night stand and stash it somewhere else. ;~))
I never experienced anything like that.
btt
I do that all the time -- while wide awake. Just ask my wife. ;~))
I think I was in college before I heard anyone talk about it. It thought I was crazy.
http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html
Click on overview in the upper left. Lots of weird things happen to people, such as becoming paralyzed while laughing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.