Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Iceland, interviewed about 700 doctors and nurses about what they had heard from their patients about visions during NDEs.

Many people talk about their near death experiences that they have seen deceased friends or family members who say that they meet them to help pass to the afterlife.

On dying patients it had soothing and calming effect and their fears dissipated as a result of the vision.

This was Haraldsson's first major study. In 1977, his book “At the Hour of Death” was published in collaboration with Dr. Karlis Osis.

In this article, Haraldsson brings together a long line of similar studies, including those of people who claim to have contacted the dead, remembering past lives and gained supernatural powers.

How real are these near-death experiences?

“Technically speaking, they were hallucinations,” he said during a Skype video interview from his home in Iceland. He spoke calmly and cheerfully, surrounded by walls lined with books, presenting his books to the camera.

"We define hallucinations as visions that others do not see… So from a technical point of view, they are or can be hallucinations. But from another point of view ... in some respects you can say about them that they were realistic.

Visions in near-death situations are realistic in that they involve people whom the patient actually knew.

These the visions are clear, sensible, and remarkably similar in plot, but with different main characters, personally important for everyone who experiences these visions.

In Haraldsson's study, almost 500 terminally ill patients in the US and India reported a similar experience of offering help from the other side.

Experiences were similar, regardless of cultural influences and regardless of the type of illness or medication prescribed.

Haraldsson refers to a 1926 book by Sir William Barrett called "Death Visions".

This was the first major publication on the subject and includes some cases in which dying people seemed to acquire knowledge which they could not have reached by ordinary means.

The patients recognized the spirits in the form of completely living people, not realizing that these people actually died.

Barret wrote: “These cases form perhaps one of the strongest arguments for the existence of life after death, since the probative value and reliability of the nature of these visions of the dying is greatly enhanced when in reality it is indisputably established that the dying person was completely unaware of the death of a person, whom he or she saw so distinctly."

More recent research confirmed some of Haraldsson's findings.

Psychoneurologist Peter Fenwick interviewed a large number of hospice care in England.

He found that dying visions were common and did not depend on factors(associated with disease or drugs) that might be expected to cause such hallucinations.

Contacts with the dead

Haraldsson conducted a survey in Iceland in 1974 asking, "Do you ever feel like you were in contact with someone who has died?"

"To my surprise, 31% with a large sample of 900 people answered "yes"”, he said.

Others, including the late sociologist Andrew Greeley, conducted similar surveys and got similar results.

The same survey in Europe found about 25% of people who reported contact with the deceased. Other studies in North America and Europe have found 10 to 40% of those surveyed who believe they have had contact with the deceased.

Looking for more detailed information, Haraldsson conducted similar surveys many times about such experiences.

He found, for example, that 67% of these contacts were visual, 28% were auditory, 13% were tactile, and 5% were olfactory.

He gives an example of olfactory contact. The woman was in the kitchen of her home in a small fishing village in southern Iceland. It seemed to her that someone was passing by the open kitchen door, but there was no one there. There was a strong smell of alcohol.

When her husband returned home, he also noticed a strong smell and asked her if anyone had come. None of them could explain the smell.

They later found out that the man they recently bought a house from had fallen into the sea and drowned around the same time that the woman was experiencing such strange sensations. The man was an alcoholic, and she felt the attributes inherent in him.

When Haraldsson was a student in Copenhagen, he had ghostly vision in his room, which he rented from an old lady.

“Sometimes when I was going to sleep, I felt that there was a person who came to the door and looked at me very carefully and inquisitively, as if he wanted to know who this guy was?” This happened several times.

“If this happened to me in recent years, after I became interested in scientific research on such phenomena, I would ask the old woman about who lived in this room before or maybe she was a widow - I don't even know that."

If he managed to identify who this ghost could be, he would then ask to see their photos.

Haraldsson had the opportunity to conduct such research at the University of Iceland. Regarding the reaction of colleagues: "Some of them are supportive, some do not like my research, some were skeptical."

“I just wish more scientists were interested in doing this kind of research,” he said. Some people are embarrassed about it. They think that their reputation may suffer. But in fact, their fears are hindering progress in this area.”

All over the world there is only one thing that people know almost nothing about - death. No one has yet been able to return from there. Unless, of course, we do not count those people who survived clinical death and were able to return back. Many do not believe their stories about what they saw THERE. But no one can refute anything. Moreover, many of the details are strikingly similar.
Some people may have a premonition of their death. Someone, as it were, warns a person, gives him signs that speak of an imminent death, so that you have time to prepare, have time to correct something, ask for forgiveness, complete some things, repent of your sins.
And sometimes there are cases when a higher power warns a person, trying to make him understand that he has not yet time, but the path along which he is walking is false and it leads him to death.
In the legends of many peoples of the world there are stories of strange, inexplicable heralds of death. Ghosts, mysterious sounds, unusual animals.
Also, one should not discard the fact that any fact of the manifestation of the world of the dead leads people into a state of horror, which operates at the subconscious level. Bizarre visions of otherworldly messengers are accompanied by the breath of death, and their messages are always perceived with frightening misunderstanding. A person in the lead of his pampered, distorted consciousness, atheistic and perverted beliefs cannot always recognize all those signs that he sees. And he accepts them as some kind of event inexplicable by science, without betraying any significance to this. But in vain.

Let's understand a little The messengers of death, how to understand them, how to understand that the events that occurred on the eve of death warned a person about an imminent death and tragedy.
Many people have hallucinations before they die. In fact, these visions are reality. They most often see a woman in white clothes, who has a wreath on her head and a staff in her hand.
There is such a belief - if the bride kisses in a dream, it means that death itself kissed you. This goddess of death controls the process of transmigration of souls. Vanga often said that she saw the goddess of death moving along the tops of the trees. And when Vanga was asked how she defines life and death, she said that this goddess looks beautiful, in light clothes, and not in a black hood with a scythe, which they used to depict. A black woman with a scythe is the goddess of illness, for which Death almost always comes.

A portent of imminent death can come through dreams.
The symbol of death is a falling tree, a tree uprooted, or a falling ceiling in a house where there will be a funeral soon, or a dream in which you leave the house naked. If you go home naked - this is a disease. Loss of teeth - to the illness of relatives, and if teeth rot, or meat - to a serious illness. You need to understand what dreams are connected with. For example, water is life, clothing on the body is protection, and if there is no clothing, then the body is not protected.
Very often, the messengers of imminent death are the arrival of deceased relatives who call with them, holding out their hand, or lead them along. Under no circumstances should you follow them. I dreamed that you were sweeping rubbish from the hut - to the dead man in the house. As you know, rubbish, garbage (that is, everything obsolete)
I dreamed of a log taken out of the wall - to the dead man. The roots of signs go back to those times when the dead were taken out of the house not through the door, but through the window or even through a specially cut hole in the wall.
I saw freshly dug earth or a hole in the ground and fresh boards in a dream - you will soon bury someone. This sign is based on the law of similarities: a pit is a grave dug in the ground; boards - a coffin knocked together from fresh boards.

Also, deceased relatives or friends who came in a dream can warn a person that he will die soon or that there will be a tragedy. They can also be sent to prevent this tragedy, to prevent a person from committing this or that act.

Physical signs of imminent death.
For example, if a bird knocks on the window, a sparrow, a swallow will fly into the house, a crow will hit the window, or if the tree that you planted fell or broke, the dog howls before the death of a person - it has been proven that a dog can see a certain substance that provokes the death of a person.
Cat - will hold the dead soul and protect the living. The value of a cat in communication between worlds remains very significant. She is able to prevent evil spirits from entering the life of a living person, and to cure, if necessary. True, not every cat is capable of this. It is necessary that she love her master, and want him to always be there. But she will not lead anyone to the afterlife. It does, and that's it. But, if a certain entity tries to enter your life, then the cat will be able to protect you from such an impact. Very often, in the fight against wickedness, a cat can give its life for its owner.
The coffin is larger than the deceased - to another deceased. Since the coffin is considered a home for the deceased, the extra space in it from ancient times suggested that it was intended for another person.
Burials on New Year's Eve are a very bad omen: in the coming year, at least once a month they will be buried.
If there are 3 knocks in a row in the room where the patient lies, he will not survive. The same - if a white-breasted bird appears near the room
The icon fell or cracked - expect misfortune and a dead person in the house
Insect invasion - it is not known where insects appear in a well-groomed house, a harbinger of trouble or death.
It is also a rather bright harbinger of the fact that this year there will be a funeral given to a person at Christmas - for example, the appearance of a butterfly in a house at Christmas indicates that there will soon be a dead person in the house.

But from a medical point of view- It has long been noticed that the signs of death cover not only the very moment of a person’s death, but also a few days before. A person’s appearance changes - the shine in the eyes is lost, the skin becomes dull and dark, the eyes fall in, the nose becomes sharp, the person’s face becomes symmetrical before death - in medicine this is a confirmed fact and has the name “Hippocratic mask”, the bridge of the nose itches to the death of a loved one - Indeed, a change in the biofield of a person was recorded, which in the region of the bridge of the nose receives signals about an impending disaster.
If the doctor came to the patient and stumbled, it means that the doctor will not help him. If you ask the patient how he feels, and he will answer - “terrible”, this is to recovery, and if he says that it is good, it means death, it has been noticed that before death, an incurably ill person becomes well. He can get out of bed, he can walk, be happy, even go to work, but all this is temporary. Why and why is it so difficult to answer this question, but it is true.

Premonition of death
Also, do not miss the fact that a person feels his death - it really is: any person guesses about his imminent death. For example, if a couple of days or a couple of hours before death, a person himself, without realizing it, met with everyone, talked to everyone, asked everyone for forgiveness and, as it were, said goodbye to everyone. Not typical behavior for a person in everyday life. And after a while, an accident can happen - an accident or any other accidental death (I'm not talking about deliberate suicide, but about an accidental, sudden death of a person). A person always does not realize his end.

The same confirmed facts are the harbingers of death in the Doubles that a person sees. They can also be seen by nearby people. as a rule, already such harbingers are not lapel events and always a quick death. Such examples can be cited from the life of the two empresses Catherine 2 and Anna Ioannovna Romanov, as well as Elizabeth 1 of England, twin harbingers came to Lenin and Stalin.
I can say that the sinister role of double ghosts has always attracted the attention of scientists who were interested in mystical phenomena. Among the hypotheses put forward by them, one is interesting, based on the fact that a person is a creature consisting of several bodies. In addition to the physical, or, as it was also called, the gross body, there are several more. One of them - ethereal - is, as it were, an energy double of the physical body. The second - the astral - the abode of sensitivity, imagination. The astral body can leave the physical and etheric shells and travel on its own. As a person approaches the last line, his astral double takes on more and more distinct outlines and sometimes becomes visible to people nearby.
The separation of the double occurs in a dream, during an illness, in a stressful situation, that is, when a person’s consciousness does not function in a completely normal mode - muffled or, conversely, extremely aggravated.

But you can read about double harbingers in the article below "Twins - harbingers of death" ....

Signs of death can neither be denied nor confirmed. In order to say something concrete, you need to visit There yourself. So what to do? Live, believe, love and follow the rules.

One of my friends experienced a state of clinical death. The only thing she managed to see was a crowd of relatives who stood on the other side of the river and waved their hands at her, shouting: “Zhenya!” When she woke up in the intensive care unit and opened her eyes, she saw that her mother was standing in front of her and loudly repeating: “Zhenya, breathe!”

The vision before death almost coincided with reality and rather resembled an episode of a dream. However, sometimes a person in a similar state sees something more bizarre. Moreover, the storyline of posthumous visions in general terms is repeated in different people.

For the first time, the American psychiatrist Raymond Moody, who published the book Life After Life, drew attention to this in 1975. The book caused a great resonance, and for more than a quarter of a century, disputes have been going on around it: what are visions in a state of clinical death - a “journey of the soul” or peculiar hallucinations, somehow connected with the structural features of the human brain? (Moody himself leans towards the former.)

Psychologists and clergy take part in disputes mainly. The only pathophysiologist who paid attention to “life after life” was Academician V.A. Negovsky. His resume was short, like a shot from a tank gun. "These are the hallucinations of a dying brain." However, the arguments that are sufficient in a militantly atheistic state, as the USSR was at that time, are unconvincing in a country loyal to four religious denominations. Therefore, we will try to give a more detailed pathophysiological argumentation.

First of all, it is necessary to distinguish two variants of post-mortem visions, different in duration. The first is visions directly in the course of clinical death against the background of resuscitation. As a rule, the time interval in this situation rarely exceeds one hour. And the second option is when those around, on the basis of external signs, ascertain the death of the patient, and after a few days, often already on the way to the cemetery, he suddenly comes to life.

Let's start with the last case. In medicine, there is the concept of a torpid phase of shock. She received a classic description from N.I. Pirogov. “With an arm or leg torn off, such a stiff one lies motionless at the dressing station. He does not scream, does not complain ... his body is cold, his face is pale, like that of a corpse, his gaze is motionless, his breathing is also barely noticeable. This phase, with a further decrease in pressure, passes into the next - cerebral, when the patient loses consciousness. Now it is simply impossible to distinguish him from the deceased by external signs. But he is alive, because his body falls into a state of suspended animation, akin to hibernation in animals. It is dangerous to abruptly remove him from this state: artificial heating of the body to normal temperature will be perceived by the organs as overheating, and an increase in pressure by pumping blood will lead to an overload of the heart. However, the body of the victim, following some currently unknown algorithm, climbs out on its own, restores functions, horrifying others who are witnessing the resurrection from the dead.

As a rule, victims in this phase of shock imagine that they are hovering over a dead body in the air and invisibly participate in their own funeral.

A young woman, as a result of a criminal abortion, received an infection and died a few days later. At the moment of death, she felt that her soul was separated from the body and stopped nearby, watching how the body was washed, dressed and laid in a coffin. In the morning she followed the procession to the church where the funeral took place, and saw how the coffin was placed on a hearse and taken to the cemetery. Her soul seemed to be flying over her body at a low altitude. Suddenly, two priests appeared to the soul, who began to sort out her past sins, and the car that was carrying the coffin stalled. Eventually the priests decided to send her soul back so that she could confess and repent, after which she felt herself being dragged back into a body that now seemed disgusting to her. A moment later, she woke up and began to knock on the coffin lid.

Such cases are well described in the literature. Most of the "resurrections" took place a hundred years ago or earlier, when there were no resuscitators or cardiographers, and whether the patient was alive or dead was judged by external signs. According to modern ideas, these people were not dead, and what they saw was a special kind of hallucination, and not pure, but with an admixture of a real reflection of the events taking place around.

By what mechanism can such visions develop? A person in a state of deep shock does not experience pain, since the body releases its own analgesics in large quantities - enkephalins, and the victim is in a state of autonarcosis. As a result, the sensorimotor part of the cortex (the homunculus, see about it in the article “Routes on the Brain Map”, “Chemistry and Life”, 2004, No. 9) is completely turned off, which during wakefulness works in tandem with the neighboring parietal region. Thanks to the sensorimotor cortex, a person automatically “fits” his own body into the surrounding space. Left without a homunculus, the parietal region continues to function, giving rise to vestibular hallucinations of the “flight of the soul”.

But since this is so, then ordinary patients who are artificially anesthetized before surgical interventions should experience similar hallucinations. Indeed, narcotic substances with a similar effect exist and are called dissociative. These, in particular, include the very ketamine around which there has been so much noise in the press lately. This is how Olga A-na describes her feelings.

“When they injected me with ketamine anesthesia and said: “Close your eyes and sleep,” at first I really seemed to forget, but at some point I felt like I was on top. I saw how the doctors in the operating room bent over the body, and I knew that this body was mine. However, it did not arouse any interest in me, since I was completely absorbed in my current state. I didn't see it, but I felt like a light ball. A feeling of great joy and lightness overwhelmed me. All earthly worries left me. It was not a dream, because in a dream, everyday little things often do not let you go and spoil your mood. I just hung from the ceiling and rejoiced. And then I heard a strong male voice: “Well, now you believe that that light exists?” And I answered without hesitation: “I believe.” Then pink screens appeared, and I saw a ceiling with large cracks right in front of me and a huge fly in all its details. Then the ceiling and the fly began to move away, and I woke up lying in the ward. Looking closer at the ceiling, I was convinced that the fly was really sitting there, but it was of real size and seemed to be a dot from afar.

Thus, it can be argued with a high degree of probability that when the revival took place several hours or more after the death, those around him erroneously ascertained death. By eye. And all the post-mortem visions in this case were the result of the action of anesthesia produced by the body of the victim himself.

Another mechanism of the "journey of the soul" operates in the case of real clinical death - it can be associated with the sequence of exsanguination of various areas of the cerebral cortex.

First of all, let us consider some structural elements of the brain itself and their blood supply. Conventionally, the brain can be divided into basic and superstructural structures. The basic structures (they are, in particular, responsible for breathing) form its foundation and are supplied with blood through a special basilar artery, into which blood is pumped almost from the aortic arch. Therefore, they are reliably insured against drops in blood pressure: breathing can be maintained even with the loss of 40% of blood, when electrical activity in the cerebral cortex is completely absent. Further, it is conditionally possible to single out the first floor, on which the visual and auditory systems of the cerebral cortex are located, and a little higher - the second floor, where the motor and tactile systems are located (the already mentioned homunculus). Blood also comes to them from their own arteries - the internal carotid ones, however, along the way, the arteries loop around each other with the formation of an additional vascular reservoir, the circle of Willis. This vascular ring also supplies blood to the third floor of the brain - the frontal cortex, which controls behavior. As a result of such a multi-stage blood supply, the loss of blood pressure (due to the weakening of cardiac activity) will lead, first of all, to bleeding of the third floor. This will lead to loss of control over the body, then deafness and blindness, and only last will stop breathing. (Similar sensations were experienced by everyone who is prone to hypotonic states with a sharp drop in pressure, legs give way, faces of others are covered with a veil of fog, but fainting can sometimes be prevented if you follow the advice to breathe deeper). Perhaps nature was right when she placed the management structures at the very top, and not in the basement, because it is always safer to hear and see, but lie down, than not to see and not hear, but to walk.

And now, having understood a little about the plumbing features of the cerebral vascular system, let's see how these principles affect during clinical death.

The victim lies lifeless, the pulse is not palpable, the pupils slowly dilate. "Died!" - Surrounding people are horrified. However, the doctor begins to rhythmically press the patient on the sternum, massaging the heart, and makes artificial respiration. And while resuscitation continues, the patient is alive. He is alive by force, because only the doctor's palms make the frozen heart push out the next milliliters of blood into the aorta. Such manual pumping deliberately puts different floors of the brain in unequal conditions for blood supply. The largest portion of blood is received by the basic structure of the brain - the medulla oblongata, where the respiratory center is located. In general, the efforts of the resuscitator are aimed at restarting the work of the center and the patient began to breathe on his own. And the most meager rations are received by the two upper floors of the cortex - the motor-sensitive and control areas. Therefore, all forms of voluntary control of the limbs and pain sensitivity are guaranteed to be lost for the entire time of resuscitation. A more significant portion of oxygen goes to the first floor: the visual and auditory zones. Therefore, in the first tens of moments there is enough oxygen here even for the deceased to remember the actions of those around him and some fragments of their conversation (usually a phrase about his death).

For example, a patient had a cardiac arrest before surgery. Surgeons began to attempt to bring her back to life, talking along the way, how much to inject adrenaline and other cardiac stimulants. The heart was able to start, and later the patient told her doctors what they were talking about during her clinical death.

However, no matter how much the resuscitator works, until the victim himself breathes, the concentration of oxygen in his blood will fall all the time. Upon reaching a certain hypoxic threshold, the nerve cell responds with the last short-term paroxysmal burst of activity: neurons, as it were, desperately scream “SOS!” As the blood pressure drops and hypoxia deepens, atonal activation will proceed along the large vessels in the reverse order to the blood flow. Knowing which areas of the brain are located along the vascular trunk, it is possible to predict the sequence of their pre-death activation, as shown in the diagram. Surgeons tried to irritate many of these areas with a weak electric current during operations to remove epileptogenic foci (patients were awake at the same time). Therefore, we have the opportunity to compare the sensations of those operated on and those who came to life after clinical death.

First of all, site A is activated - the primary visual cortex. The task of this part of the brain is to quickly divide the object that is in the focus of attention into its constituent colors and segments of different orientations: neurons work like cubist artists. The information received in the primary visual area should be divided into component lines, vectors and shades. When it was irritated by the current, the operated ones saw luminous balls, disks with red rings, a flame, light at the end of the tunnel. Simultaneously with zone A, zone B is activated - the primary auditory cortex. When it was irritated by the current, the operated ones “heard” the noise of the drum, ringing, chirping, roaring, buzzing.

What is the experience of the deceased? He feels that he is moving at high speed through a long black tunnel and at the same time hears an unpleasant noise, a loud ringing or buzzing. But this is a general scheme, but specific cases.

“I was moving through a long dark space that looked like a sewer pipe, and all the time I heard a ringing noise.”

“At that moment, I heard something similar to a bell ringing somewhere in the distance, as if carried by the wind, and I was pulled into a kind of funnel.”

“An indistinct noise was heard, and then a crowd of ugly creatures began to approach with a cry and a cackle. Demons! I thought. Surrounding me on all sides, the demons, shouting and clamoring, demanded that I be handed over to them.”

“I felt that I was somewhere in the middle of the dark tunnels, and tried my best to get over the pipes in deep ditches, where it was terribly cold.”

In general, some own visions can be superimposed on the standard canvas, connected with the ideas that a person already has about the afterlife. (How can one not recall here the well-known psychological Rorschach test, when in bizarre blots everyone distinguishes something of their own, inspired by personal life experience).

After the primary visual and auditory areas of the cortex, the secondary visual cortex is activated (B). Its neurons are carriers of memory traces of specific images. Electrical stimulation of the secondary visual cortex evoked the sensation of seeing familiar faces, figures of people, and animals.

Accordingly, the dead "see" something similar.

“And then I saw a deep cliff in front of me, under which there were many men and women.”

“At that moment, when I was almost falling into some kind of dark hole, an old woman appeared in a man's attire.”

“Suddenly, a fiery mountain appeared in front of me, from which fiery sparks rushed in all directions, and I saw a lot of people.”

The next zone of activation will be G - the temporal cortex. All information from the perceiving zones of the brain - visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory - flows into this area, and here individual images are synthesized into complete everyday scenes. Her irritation during operations was felt by patients as “flashes of experience”, they had vivid and extremely detailed memories of episodes of the past. And this is what the dead experience.

“When we approached the gates of heaven, we came to the ordeal of fornication, the guards detained me there and began to show all my fornication, carnal deeds, committed by me from childhood to death.” (A warrior's story.)

“I heard how my sins, starting from my youth, cry out against me, each with their own voice, and accuse me with sorrow.” (A monk's story.)

It has long been known that before death, with amazing clarity and incredible speed, his whole life can flash through the mind of the dying person. These facts were summarized in the 19th century by the French psychologist Théodule Ribot and the German physiologist Gustav Fechner. In everyday life, the storehouse of memory in the temporal cortex is under reliable constipation of inhibitory impulses that come from the control (frontal) sections of the cortex. However, in a state of clinical death, it is turned off, and nothing prevents the tangle of life impressions from unwinding in one or two minutes.

"In this state, one thought drove another with indescribable speed."

However, for immersion in one's past, a person does not have to experience clinical death. Hashish smokers make these excursions in more comfortable surroundings. According to them, one session can mentally live 60 years. True, we should not forget that the physical exhaustion of drug addicts proceeds ten times faster than normal.

The last zone D is activated - the orbital cortex and the subcortical formation lying in the depths of the brain, the striatum.

In a healthy brain, neurons in the orbital cortex receive information already processed in the temporal region. It is like chewed food, there is no cucumber or sausage here, but there are faceless cubes with tags “sausage”, “cucumber”, “house”, “car”, etc. Thanks to the orbital cortex, thinking can be carried out schematically, without involving images and even words (although in the normal brain both images and words are activated a second time, through feedback). Therefore, a separate activation of this area can be accompanied by communication without words, directly with blocks of thoughts, with invisible interlocutors. Activation of the striatum, in turn, leads to the release of happiness mediators - endorphins, which is experienced as bliss. No wonder the physiologists who studied this structure called it the "entrance to paradise."

“I ended up in a place where everything was flooded with light, fragrance and grace emanated from everywhere. I felt that there were people around me, although I did not see anyone. When I wanted to know what was going on, I always got a mental answer from one of them. After I acquired new knowledge, my soul was returned to the body.”

So, the circle is closed: the last vision is also the last moments of being in the "other world", followed by a return to worldly life.

I would like to end the article on this optimistic note. Moreover, all the people I quoted really came back to life. And they weren't dead either. After all, clinical death is still life.

Candidate of Biological Sciences Aleksandrin V.V.
"Chemistry and Life - XXI century"

Why, before death, people's noses are pointed, they see the dead, they empty themselves - especially for the readers of "Popular about Health" I will consider this information in more detail. The life path of any person, whatever it may be, ends with death and it is worth reconciling with this, for some this state comes early, and for someone after many years of life. You should be prepared for this if there is a bed patient in the family.

The signs before death are different for everyone, however, many see the dead before death, which is explained by the fact that a person is gradually preparing to leave for another world and he often sees already dead people. Immediately at the moment of dying, all physiological sphincters relax, in particular, the urinary and intestinal ones, which leads to emptying.

A bedridden patient before death may experience mental anguish and fear of death. In his right mind, he understands what he will have to go through and he becomes scared. Changes occur in the body at the physical and mental level, the emotional background changes, interest in life gets. Some ask for euthanasia to alleviate the agony before death, while relatives should take into account the opinion of the dying person and help him to leave easily, either through the use of painkillers, or through euthanasia.

With the approach of death, the patient often spends time in a dream, he is apathetic, and interest in the world around him disappears. The activity of all physiological systems gradually decreases, irreversible changes develop. A person loses energy, he feels tired. A dying person can sometimes feel non-existent things and sounds in reality. In order not to upset a person, this should not be denied. There may also be a loss of orientation, confusion is not ruled out.

Already in the last moments before death, it can be noted that the limbs of the dying person grow cold, as the blood flows to more important organs, which in the end still refuse to provide life support. A person loses his appetite, the work of the digestive tract is disturbed, he stops drinking. When the sphincters are weakened, it is important to provide the patient with the necessary hygienic conditions by using special absorbent underwear, disposable diapers or diapers.

With severe exhaustion, the patient's eyeballs may sink, the person can hardly open his eyes. It happens that the eyes, on the contrary, are open, so they should be moistened with special solutions, including saline. A weakened person may experience terminal tachypnea with wheezing. Most patients die quietly, they gradually lose consciousness and are in a coma.

In the last days before death, the patient should be left with only painkillers, antiemetics, diuretics, vitamins, antihypertensives and other medicines that will no longer be tender can be canceled. If a person has a desire to talk with loved ones about the last moments of his life, it is better to satisfy his request calmly than to hush up such a topic.

The dying person wants to understand that he is not alone, that he will definitely be taken care of, that suffering will not touch him, since painkillers will be given in time. Relatives should provide comprehensive assistance to the dying. Before death, a person's facial features may be somewhat sharpened, including the nose. This can occur as a result of dehydration of the body.

Sometimes, before death, a person is provided with palliative care, which is aimed at anesthetizing a person if he has a pain syndrome, such assistance helps to improve the last days of the patient, alleviate his suffering. A dying patient needs not only help and attention, but also full care and normal living conditions. For him, psychological unloading is important, in addition, relief of experiences.

One of the signs of a person's near departure from life can be a cold and pointed nose. In the old days, there was a belief that death holds a person by the nose in his last days, which is why he sharpens. The ancestors believed that if a dying person turns away from the light and spends a lot of time facing the wall, he is already on the threshold of another world.

If suddenly he suddenly felt some relief and asked him to shift to his left side, then this indicates a sure sign of his imminent death. Such a person leaves the earthly world without torment, if the windows and the door in the room are opened in a timely manner. Relatives should be prepared for the death of the patient. It is impossible to predict with accuracy the moment of death of a person and how it will all happen. You need to be ready to help him in the last minutes, you may need to make an anesthetic drug.

Conclusion

The stages of dying are individual for everyone, as well as the process of the birth of life. You must always remember that it is the most difficult for a dying person, and not for his relatives, so you need to help the patient in every possible way, giving him attention and being close to him. Close people need to be patient and show increased concern for a relative, provide him with moral support and invaluable attention. Death is an inevitable outcome of the human life cycle, and this moment cannot be canceled, changed. Perhaps there are cycles of lives, but no one has yet proven this, there are only such assumptions.

Death visions were rarely mentioned in the scientific literature until the late 1920s, when they began to be studied by William Barrett, professor of physics at the Royal College of Science, Dublin.

Barrett became seriously interested in the subject of visions before death, after his wife, an obstetric surgeon, once told him about a woman who died that day in the hospital from blood loss after childbirth.

Before this woman, Doris, died, suddenly sat up in bed, incredibly excited to see some magnificent landscape, and then suddenly announced that her dead father had come for her to accompany her to the "other side." Barretta was very shocked by the fact that the woman was suddenly surprised to see her sister Vida, who had died only three weeks ago, along with her father: because Doris was very sick, the death of her beloved sister was hidden from her.

This incident so inspired Barrett that he began a systematic study of dying visions. This was the first scientific experience that established that the consciousness of a dying person often remains clear and rational. Barrett also recounted the many instances in which William Barrett's medical staff or relatives present had visions of a dying person.

Barrett's book, published in 1926, is titled "Deathbed Visions". On its pages, he writes that:

Many times at the time of their death, people saw the ghost of a friend or relative at the bedside, believing that this was a living person;
in all cases, it was established that the person (or rather, his ghost), whom these people observed, had already died, but they did not know this;
dying children were often surprised that the angels they saw waiting for them did not have wings.

In the 60s of the 20th century, Dr. Karlis Osis from the American Institute of Psychology and Research conducted an experimental study of the visions of the dying, which fully confirmed Barrett's data and was subsequently tested in various national cultures.

Osis found that:

The most common type of visions are - the ghosts of already dead people;
usually lasted no more than 5 minutes;
dying people unequivocally stated that the ghosts had come to take them with them;
faith in does not affect the frequency of appearance or appearance of the seen ghost;
most of the observed patients did not receive drugs that can cause hallucinations.

1977 - Dr. Osis and his colleague Dr. Erländer Haraldsson published the book At the Hour of Death. This book expanded on the original research and contained reports from about a thousand doctors and nurses in India and America. The book provides information on the deaths of more than 100,000 people. All of these studies are in full agreement with the first studies carried out over 30 years and reflected in several works of Dr. Robert Crookall in England.

According to the information he received from the medical staff:

Only 10% of people were conscious shortly before death;
in this group of those observed, from one half to two thirds had similar near-death visions;
these visions took the form of ghosts of loved ones, fleeting visions of the other world and caused a state of euphoria inexplicable from a medical point of view.

Dr. Melvin Morse assures that the French historian Philippe Arie has documented that before 1000 AD, the dying spoke of the vision of God and that they saw those who had already passed into. Morse laments that today, patients who have these kinds of visions are being treated for "anxiety" with drugs and Valium that erase short-term memory and prevent patients from remembering any visions they may have had. He also assures that approximately 90% of people who die in hospitals are "reanimated and drugged multiple times" and that doctors consider dying visions to be a disease that must be treated without fail.

In his book Closer to the Light. A study of NDE () in children" Morse hypothesized that dying visions are "a forgotten aspect of the mysterious process of life" and that they can have a strong calming and healing effect for both the dying person and his relatives. He listed several cases in which dying children saw visions of the other world during the last few days of their lives. Children described amazing colors, beautiful places, and their long-dead relatives whom they could not have known in life.

These are not hallucinations

Dr. Osis himself suggested that such sensations were simply hallucinations caused by the biochemical effects of a dying brain. But, after careful research, the scientist realized that these sensations were so unusual and convincing that they could not be explained either by the patient's physical condition or the consequences of the treatment.
The report of the PSI (Society for Psychical Research) cites cases where a ghost was seen by one or more people who were at the bedside of a dying person.

In one case, which has been described in detail, a ghost was seen by a dying woman, Harriet Pearson, and three relatives caring for her.
In another case, at the bedside of a dying little boy, two witnesses independently saw his recently deceased mother.

Death visions corroborate other evidence. Of those who die in consciousness, 50-60% see visions of the other world.

The important role of dying visions

In his book Parting Visions, 1994, Melvin Morse states that:

Carla Wills-Brandon, M.A., Ph.D., psychologist, lawyer, and author of six published books, became seriously interested in dying visions when it happened to her three-year-old son. The child was visited by a ghost who informed him that he was there to take him and his grandfather with him; the boy was sure that it was actually his dad. In her book One Last Embrace Before I'm Gone: The Mystery and Meaning of Death Visions, Carla Wills-Brandon not only revisits the research of Barrett and Osis, but analyzes many recent studies. And here is her conclusion.

Science is unable to explain these phenomena.
Death visions have existed since time immemorial.
These events point to the existence of life after death.
Our destiny is to study them.