Increased brain activity found in the human brain right before death: report

Scientists have been long fascinated with death and what happens in the human brain at the time of death. Now, a new study has found that the human brain experiences increased activity in the moments before death.

Gamma oscillations in the brain were found to become more neurophysiologically coupled and connected in the dying human brain, said the researchers in their paper. Temporal dynamics of EEG power, local and long-range phase-amplitude coupling between low- and high-frequency oscillations, and functional and directed cortical connectivity across all frequency bands were in focus for the study.

This evidence is similar to the spike in brain activity previously recorded in animals whose hearts stopped beating. Experts think the increased brain activity throughout the process of dying is linked to consciousness.

Researchers at the University of Michigan studied four people who died while undergoing EEG monitoring due to brain haemorrhage and anoxic damage caused by a heart attack. When the ventilator support was removed, a spike in gamma wave activity associated with consciousness was observed in two patients. This region of the brain is called the "hot zone". It is linked to dreaming and altered states of consciousness.