A luminous tunnel, intense bursts, the film of a whole life scrolling … These visions, often told by those who have come close to death, are myth or science? Long interpreted by the prism of religions or certain beliefs, the question now arouses an increasing interest in neuroscience. The latest studies open a fascinating window on what the brain experiences in its final moments. Here’s what we know to date.
Death, last unexplored territory of science
When the heart stops beating, oxygen no longer irrigues the brain. In theory, this is the end. But reality seems much more nuanced. Electroencephalograms recordings show that, within seconds following cardiac arrest, the brain is experiencing a peak in intense activity, in particular gamma waves, usually associated with consciousness and memories. Like a last start, a flambé of neural electricity, a “swan song”.
Professor Stéphane Charpier, researcher at the Brain Institute, describes in his book The science of resurrectionthese puffs of activity as a possible marker of a state of residual consciousness, even though the body seems inert. In other words: the brain, in its ultimate seconds, could still be awake.
Tunnel and light: a biological explanation
The most frequently reported vision during imminent death experiences (EMI) remains that of a long dark tunnel leading to a radiant light. According to the neurologist Steven Laureys who made the subject a YouTube conference, this phenomenon is explained by a brutal decrease in blood flow to the retina and the visual cortex. The peripheral vision goes out first, leaving only a central beam, comparable to a look through a tunnel.
As oxygen becomes scarce, the luminous signals perceived can intensify, giving birth to this almost mystical sensation of an invasive light. An explanation breaking a little myth of arrival in a luminous “paradise”, which will probably not appeal to everyone.
The film of his life: Accelerated or Ultimate Mirage Souvenirs?
But then what do we see last? The Aware study, conducted in several hospitals with more than 2,000 cardiac arrest patients, has identified nine detailed EMI testimonies. Among them, some report having seen fragments of their existence, such as an accelerated film of their lives, others evoke an outing of their body, observing their resuscitation from the outside.
One of the testimonies could even be verified as exact: a patient described his environment with precision when he was officially unconscious. Beyond the spectacular visions, a constant emerges: the feeling of an infinite love, a deep peace and a union with the world. If science is struggling to decide between neurological explanation and spiritual experience, it shows that the ultimate moment could be less scary than imagined.
For Sam Parnia, author of the study, this perilous research today reveals something tangible. These stories are not a simple hallucination, but a coherent subjective experience, lived in a state where consciousness seems to resist, against biological death.
A still blurred border
The truth is that science cannot, for the moment, offer only a mosaic of answers. The “last image” remains multiple: for some, a tunnel, for others light bursts, familiar faces or the deployment of buried memories. What we know, on the other hand, is that the brain is still briefly ignited before turning off, like a star in its last explosion.
What if the end was not a brutal nothingness, with an image? But a last sensory experience, made of light, memory and perhaps … comfort? Difficult to have the end of the story.