Dear Friends,
Be Well.
The AWARE Study
The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) study is
the first launched by the Human Consciousness Project, a multidisciplinary
collaboration of international scientists and physicians who have joined forces
to study the relationship between mind and brain during clinical death, and is
led by Dr. Sam Parnia, a world-renowned expert on the study of the human mind
and consciousness during clinical death, together with Dr Peter Fenwick and
Professors Stephen Holgate and Robert Peveler of the University of Southampton.
The team will be working in collaboration with more than 25 major medical
centers throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States.
Although the study of death has traditionally been
considered a subject for theology or philosophy, recent advances in medicine
have finally enabled a scientific approach to understanding the ultimate
mystery facing humankind. “Contrary to popular perception,” Dr. Parnia
explains, “death is not a specific moment. It is actually a process that begins
when the heart stops beating, the lungs stop working, and the brain ceases
functioning – a medical condition termed cardiac arrest, which from a
biological viewpoint is synonymous with clinical death.”
“During a cardiac arrest, all three criteria of death
are present. Subsequently, there is a period of time, ranging from a few
seconds to an hour or longer, in which emergency medical efforts may succeed in
restarting the heart and reversing the dying process. What people experience
during this period of cardiac arrest provides a unique window of understanding
into what we are all likely to experience during the dying process.”
A number of recent scientific studies carried out by
independent researchers have demonstrated that 10-20 per cent of people who go
through cardiac arrest and clinical death report lucid, well structured thought
processes, reasoning, memories, and sometimes detailed recall of events during
their encounter with death.
“The remarkable point about these experiences,”
according to Dr. Parnia, “is that while studies of the brain during cardiac
arrest have consistently shown that there is no measurable brain activity,
these subjects have reported detailed perceptions that indicate the
contrary—namely, a high level of consciousness in the absence of detectable
brain activity. If we can objectively verify these claims, the results would
bear profound implications not only for the scientific community, but for the
way in which we understand and relate to life and death as a society.”
During the AWARE study, physicians will use the latest
technologies to study the brain and consciousness during cardiac arrest. At the
same time, they will also be testing the validity of out of body experiences
and claims of being able to see and hear during cardiac arrest through the use
of randomly generated hidden images that are not visible unless viewed from
specific vantage points above.
The study is being funded by the UK Resuscitation
Council, the Horizon Research Foundation, and the Nour Foundation in the United
States.
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