What happens in a person's mind before death?
Neurologist Dr. Himo Borhin discovered almost exactly what happens in the brain when a person dies.
Himo said, 'We were experimenting on rats, after the surgery something came out of their brains, we were also studying that. Suddenly two mice died. Because of this, we got the opportunity to monitor the process of death in the brain of those mice.
Serotonin is a chemical that controls the mood of living beings. After seeing the amount of serotonin in the brain of that dead rat, Dr. Many questions arose in Himo's mind.
Then Himo began to do more research on the information she already had. She thought that there must be some reason behind the leakage of serotonin.
Dr. Himo Borheen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Inquiring Physiology and Neurology at the University of Michigan, USA. While investigating the death of mice. Himo began to study what happens in the brain when people die. She said that the understanding and knowledge about the death that she found during the investigation was different.
DEFINITION OF DEATH
If a pulse is not detected after a prolonged heart attack, it is considered dead in the eyes of the doctor. In this process, emphasis is placed on the heart. It is called a heart attack, not a brain attack.
Himo says, "According to scientists, it seems that there is nothing going on in the brain of a dead person." Because dead people can neither speak nor move their bodies.
The brain needs a lot of oxygen to function. If the brain does not pump blood, oxygen does not reach the brain. "Generally all symptoms indicate that the brain is not working or is in a dormant state," she says.
But Dr. From the research of Himo and his team, completely different information has come.
The brain is moving very fast
In a 2013 study of mice, when their hearts stopped working, there was increased activity in many neurons in their brains.
"The release of serotonin in the brains of the dead rats increased 60 times and the release of the feel-good chemical dopamine also increased 40 to 60 times," says Dimo, "at the same time, the amount of norepinephrine, the chemical that makes living animals more alert, increased up to 100 times."
She says that it would be impossible for an animal to have such a large amount of these chemicals in its brain while alive. In 2015, the team published the results of another study in the brains of dying mice. It is almost impossible for an animal to have such a high concentration of these chemicals in its brain.
In both cases, 100 percent of the animals recorded significant brain activity. At the time of death, the brain was very active,” she says.
gamma wave
In 2023, Himo and his team published another research paper. The research was conducted on four people who were in a coma and were dependent on life support systems for their heartbeats. These patients were given electrodes or plates for electroencephalography. So that their brain activity can be recorded.
Those four were close to death. The doctor and his family members decided that they could not be saved in any way. Therefore, efforts to save their lives should be abandoned.
With the permission of relatives, ventilator support was removed from those four people. During this time, the researchers noticed that the brains of the two patients were very active. It revealed cognitive activity in the brain.
Gamma waves were also recorded in their brains during this period, which is said to be the fastest brain wave. Gamma waves are part of the complex process of information and memory processing in the human brain.
During the monitoring of another patient's brain, very intense activity was observed in the temporal lobe of his brain, i.e. the part of the brain behind both ears.
Himo says, 'The part of the human brain behind the right ear is considered very important for empathy. Those who have survived a heart attack, those who have experienced death up close. They have made themselves better people with that experience and have started to feel more empathy towards others.'
A near death experience
Some people who have returned from the face of death have said that the picture of their life flashed before their eyes or they remembered many important moments of their life at that time.
Many people reported seeing a bright light during their death. Some people have claimed that they felt that they had come out of their body and were watching everything from a distance. Extreme activity of the brain, hyperactivity, is the reason why people standing on the verge of death have such a terrible experience?
Dr. About 20 to 25 percent of heart attack victims report seeing white lights, saying they saw something strange, says Hema. Of course, the image making part of their brain was activated.
After removing the ventilator, the researchers say about the two patients who showed very fast activity in the brain.
This means, they must have experienced seeing something like this. Dr. Himo said the study involved very few people and that more research is needed to understand what happens in the brain when a person dies.
But after more than 10 years of research on this matter, Dr. One thing has become clear to Himo During a heart attack, the brain does not rest, it becomes very active.
Himo says, 'We are still trying to understand this. Not much information is available on this.
Referring to the state of hibernation, she says, "All animals, including mice and humans, have different mechanisms to cope with the lack of oxygen." Until now, it was believed that when the heart stops working, the mind becomes silent and watches everything as a spectator. This means that the heart stops working, the brain shuts down.
But the brain does not give up easily. Himo says. "Just as our mind fights against every difficult situation, it also fights against death. The brain has enough capacity to face the challenge of lack of oxygen. But more research is yet to be done on this,” she says.
There is still much to discover
Dr. What Himo and his team discovered is just a small piece of information. Much remains to be discovered about this.
There are mechanisms in the brain that deal with lack of oxygen, which we do not understand. People whose heart stops working have this unique and different kind of experience. Statistics show that this is due to brain activity," she says.
Now the question arises, why is there so much activity in the dying brain?
Dr. Himo says, 'All of us should change our understanding about this. If you study it and research it, you can get answers to these questions. Because millions of people are believed to be dead before their actual death. Because we do not fully understand the entire process of death.
What happens inside the head?
Every day half a liter of water is produced in the head and the body is irrigated. Doctors have called this water 'holy water'. Because it plays a key role in the functioning of the brain.
What happens inside the head?
Kathmandu. Focus on yourself for a moment, how can a mobile phone in the palm of your hand transmit what is said from one hemisphere of the earth to another geography correctly and immediately? How can the previous laptop complete your digital work in minutes?
How can a heavy or heavy airplane fly in the open sky carrying hundreds of people comfortably? How can effective results on the earth be obtained by mathematically estimating the movement of planets and constellations? How can his family tree be found by keeping a microscopic part of the body in the laboratory?
When we are still and thinking for a moment, our mind is spinning. While all these miracles are the product of that mind.
The miracle of making Einstein a scientist, Socrates a philosopher, Siddhartha Gautama a Buddha belongs to that mind. The same mind, which has solved innumerable questions about the universe. Result - From the evolution of life to the human body, from the origin of the earth to the subsoil, from the celestial bodies to the planets and constellations, people are capable of making dreams come true.
How is that mind that works so great and magical?
Without being able to see this thing inside our own head, our life is the rest. What a surprise!
Looking for the answer to that mystery, we reached Veer Hospital, Prof. Dr. To meet Rajeev Jha. Dr. Jha has performed more than 19,000 head surgeries. We decided to study the structure of the brain through his eyes.
How is that brain that works so big and magical?
Without being able to see this thing inside our own head, our life is the rest. What a surprise!
When we dig our heads
What does it look like with open eyes? Before answering this, let's talk about some amazing and strange facts about head and brain.
Every day half a liter of water is produced in the head and the body is irrigated. Doctors have called this water 'holy water'. Because it plays a key role in the functioning of the brain.
Dr. Rajeev Jha
An adult human body has a head of about five kilograms. On that head is the brain carefully held by a bone cover like a crow. The average weight of the brain is 1.4 kg when it is in a flat state like frozen curd. Such a small brain rules the whole body.
65 percent of brain composition is fat. The rest is protein. It is solid but it is water soluble in between.
Men's brain size is 200 grams larger than that of women. This does not mean that men have more brains than women. Only structurally the size is big.
Numerous nerves are connected to the brain, which are working in different ways. Thinking, imagining, creating, evaluating, reasoning, alerting, fearing, feeling sad, happy, proud, excited, all the emotional activities are done by those different mechanisms of the brain.
Most of the blood consumed by the organs of the body is done by the brain. The brain size of boys and girls is different. Boys are bigger by 200 grams.
A brain wired like an electric wire
The brain is in the shape of a shriveled, sometimes swollen pattern, just like when you crack open a walnut. It is carefully kept covered with a letter like a bone cover. This letter of bone consists of three layers. In this way, nature has kept the brain with utmost protection. The brain has two layers, the upper one is slightly darker and the inner one is completely white.
Although it looks like a lump at a glance, it is basically divided into two parts, right and left. There is another connector connecting these two parts, which is called the corpus callosum. It establishes communication between two separate parts of the brain. It also has various glands. There are thalamus, hypothalamus, pons, medulla, pituitary and pineal gland.
The right-left, front-back parts of the brain are separate and all these have different tasks.
How does the brain think, hear, smell and see?
The front part, which is called the cerebrum. Cerebrum ie frontal lobe is related to human nature, tendency, reaction, evaluation, behavior.
The upper layer of the brain, i.e. the parietal lobe, which makes people feel taste, touch, and temperature. That is why it makes you feel that it is cold or hot, painful, something is broken. It is also related to hearing. It does the work of hearing or understanding any sound. On the right is the temporal lobe, which is related to human memory. It also works for hearing ability.
The occipital lobe, which is in the upper part, has a special relationship with our vision. After we look at any object, it is the task of distinguishing and identifying its shape.
The two parts at the back of the brain are called the cerebellum. Its job is to balance our senses. When you want to walk, your legs move, when you need to pick something, your hand moves forward, when you want to see something, you look at it with your eyes. This is why the combination of touching this, bringing this, and doing this is done. It is the cerebellum that balances all these functions.
The brain stem connects all these parts of the brain. There are basically 12 cranial nerves in the brain. All parts of the body This is what keeps the company running.
Most of the blood consumed by the organs of the body is done by the brain. The brain size of boys and girls is different. Boys are bigger by 200 grams.
Brain like a lake
Looking at the brain from another point of view, it looks like a huge reservoir. We call it ventricles. Half a liter of water is being produced here daily.
It is like lees in that part of the brain. That's why water comes out. Because the brain needs water and fat. This is brain food.
In this way, the nutritious water released from something like lye gets irrigated at the upper, middle and lower levels of the brain and reaches the body and is released through various channels. When there is an obstacle in the way of this water coming out, the water freezes on the head. This is a very bad situation.
Therefore, the said water should have its own speed and rhythm. We call it 'holy water'.
In two parts of the throat, there is a large tube, through which blood is supplied to the brain. Along with this, the brain receives blood through two other means. 20-22 percent of the blood in the body is consumed by the brain.
The brain secretes many different chemicals for different functions.
The Amazing 'Master Gland'
In the middle of the brain, there is a gland the size of a grain of rice, which is called the pituitary gland. Nine hormones are secreted from this gland.
This hormone does everything like control of urination, menstrual discharge in women, milk flow, body growth. If there is an imbalance in this, there will be no menstruation, no urinary retention, no milk, short or too tall, too fat or thin. These hormones have a special role to make the body perform according to the correct standards.
There is also a certain time for the secretion of these hormones. Some hormones are secreted the most at eight o'clock in the morning and some at night. That is, hormones are not being secreted for 24 hours. Such hormones are secreted to match the rhythm of the body with nature.
