September 2024
The physical aspect of fainting is well-documented, but the subjective, dreamlike experiences that sometimes accompany it largely have been overlooked. A research team at the university of Liège in Belgium wanted to find out whether these phenomena are comparable to Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), and also examine the associated brain activity.
The findings show that dreamlike and mystical experiences during fainting might be more common than previously thought.
Transient loss of consciousness and unresponsiveness were induced through breathing techniques in 27 healthy volunteers. High quality data was obtained from 22 people. The participants engaged in hyperventilation and the Valsalva maneuver, which involves trying to exhale forcefully with the nostrils and mouth closed.
More 30 per cent of the participants reported vivid inner experiences, such as a sense of leaving the body, visions of past events and a sense of entering an otherworldly realm. A scale to report experiences, created by prominent NDE researcher Bruce Greyson, was used to evaluate the phenomenological content.
As for brain activity, delta and theta waves were linked to these extraordinary inner experiences. The researchers concludes that those wave bands may be markers when altered states of consciousness are generated.
“From a scientific perspective, this line of research aims to demonstrate, across a comprehensive spectrum of physiological, pathological, and pharmacological conditions, that unresponsiveness cannot be considered a surrogate for unconsciousness,” study author Charlotte Martial said to Psypost magazine.
Anders Bolling
