A leading brain surgeon has revealed what happens to our brains after we die.
Dr Rahul Jandial, a dual-trained neurosurgeon and neurobiologist said the organ is “going out on an explosion of activity,” hence why we should hold onto loved one’s hands for longer during last goodbyes. Speaking to Dr Rangan Chatterjee in his latest Feel Better, Live More podcast, the medic delves into the world of dreams.
He said: “How the brain dies is powerful and it really has affected me because there’s a measurement that shows something very dramatic…
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“There are patients who are passing away…the stickers are on the heart, you have an EKG read – typically we used to think of death as flatlining meaning that there’s no electrical signal coming from the heart.
(Image: PA)
But he said that thanks to skull surface electrodes, brain activity can also be measured in a patient’s final moments.
“When you look at the monitor and the heart has now stopped and it’s a flatline, the brain electricity is still going so the first few minites after cardiac death,” he said.
“The brain electricity’s not just going, there’s a massive explosion of activity, similar to dreaming brain waves, similar to expansive memory brain waves.
“The first few minutes after our heart stops beating, where historically we’ve thought, this is the time of death, the brain is having its final moment, maybe its best moment.
(Image: Getty Images)
“There’s a massive release of neuro transmitters. The brain is not going out in a whimper, it’s going out on an explosion of activity and that by itself shows us that we should be holding that loved one’s hand longer than we have been.”
Dr Jandial, who routinely undertakes complex cancer operations, admitted he often shares the science with his patients to reassure them as they come to the end of their lives.
He said that when we die, the heart “squeezes one last time and then the last ejection of blood…lands to the brain.”
He added: “The heart is stopped but that blood is carrying glucose that keeps the neurons still sufficiently powered for a minute or two.
(Image: BBC / Studio Lambert / Stuart Wood)
“What does the brain do at that moment? It fires everything in its arsenal and gives you your biggest dream yet.”
In some cases, he said it “explains things like near-death experiences” in patients who have “been brought back.”
“Maybe this explains why they said they had memories of their whole life like a film strip play in their mind,” he added.
Dr Jandial has analysed dreaming habits in his new book: This is why you dream: What your sleeping brain reveals about your waking life.
(Image: Getty Images)
In the podcast, he explained how the brain is a hive of electrical and chemical activity when it “says goodbye.”
He said: “To me, those brainwaves look a bit like dreaming brainwaves – that maybe brain death in itself is one last massive dream which points to me that dreaming is not a glitch.”
In response, host, Dr Rangan Chatterjee describes being left “tingling” and explained how some nurses say they will continue speaking to patients after cardiac death so that patients know they are not alone.
He recalled the time he was present when his dad died 11 years ago and now wondered whether he was experiencing his “whole life playing” after he slipped away.
Dreams are a source of mystery. They have changed the course of individual lives and the world, spurring business deals, inspiring art and scientific breakthroughs, triggering military invasions and mental breakdowns. Yet the source of dreams is not mysterious. They are the product of an extraordinary transformation that occurs in the brain each night when we sleep.
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Dr Chatterjee added: “Just because we can’t explain it yet doesn’t mean it’s not powerful. I think the door that that opens as to the purpose of our brain, the purpose of dreaming, what the electrical activity actually means, is truly profound.”
Dr Jandial responded: “For me, it’s also comforting as a cancer surgeon to occasionally start to share this story with my patients that not only is there a genius built in every night for us, the dreaming brain keeps us adaptive and creative and adventurous and open-minded.
“In your final moments, a dream-like robust activity will be there for you to comfort you and to celebrate the life you’ve lived.”
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