Understanding NDEs
10 questions
The questions almost everyone asks about near-death experiences, answered with studies and data from our archive.
The questions
What is a near-death experience?
What people go through: the light, leaving the body, meeting relatives.
What does dying feel like?
What people who nearly died describe, and what has been measured in the brain.
What happens after death?
What has been studied about whether anything continues after death, and what is still unknown.
What is terminal lucidity?
Seriously ill people who regain clarity shortly before death, and what has been studied.
How many people have an NDE?
Between 4 and 23 in every 100 people who survive cardiac arrest, depending on the study.
What does science say?
Two explanations: that it all happens in the brain, or that consciousness carries on without it. We hold both to the same standard.
How does life change afterward?
What people say changed in their lives when they came back.
What if the experience is frightening?
Experiences of fear or distress, told with the same care.
Is it the same in other cultures?
What people from India, Muslim countries, and other traditions describe.
Is reincarnation real?
Five people who remembered another life, and what could be checked for each one. In a free PDF.