With patients who vividly describe the experience of blinding white light, it is absolutely fascinating what a human being goes through just a few moments before death. The chemistry experts have finally found the answer to what exactly is going on in precisely that one minute prior to departing to the other world.
Although it seems unbelievable, the scientists of the American Society of Chemistry say that the near-death experience resembles watching a horror movie where the killer is chasing the victim with an ax. It feels like you’re there because you identify yourself with the victim, which causes a feeling of fear in you. This is closely related since the feeling of death, and the feeling of fear such as the one of the victim’s are almost the same.
Same like when you experience the adrenaline rush caused by the fear of watching a murderer looming over the victim, a sense of impending death triggers the same feeling. Emotions and feelings of fear force people to do one of the two things – to react to the situation or to flee. Whatever the reaction, physiological and chemical processes are activated in the body in order to protect it.
The resulting sensory information that rushes through the body is directed through the central nervous system to the thalamus, who works as a communication switching system, and from there, the signals are sent to different parts of the brain. The information about the upcoming departure will irritate your nervous system until it triggers the desire for escape. During this experience, the body responds to the increased secretion of adrenaline, along with glucose coursing through the body. The desire to scream in such situations stems from the inability to act in a way that we want. Screaming is a natural instinct that indicates helplessness or our failure to respond to danger and try to escape.
In the case where the screaming and trying to escape do not give the desired result, it means that there is no hope left. Then, when there is no exit, and you become aware of that, the next and the last emotion you feel is a pain. Then the pain receptors use specific neurons to signal to the brain to try to prevent the event which causes the pain from happening again. The patients with a near death experience say that they saw a bright white light. Maybe it is precisely the urge to resist the white light, or you simply let go to it what influences whether a person will actually die or he/she will be just a step away from dying.
In the moments after the clinical death, the brain remains alive for some time. During this period, the brain makes a last great effort and these moments are similar to a conscious state. This is the powerful impact that brings to life a large number of people, and that is what is called a near-death experience, connecting it with the blinding white light. If this phase is bypassed, and the body does not react physically, the next stage is a biological death and, of course, the end.
