Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Floyd R. Turbo

(32,579 posts)
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:11 PM 4 hrs ago

Something else to lose sleep over: Consciousness could last hours after 'death'

Last edited Wed Feb 18, 2026, 06:20 PM - Edit history (1)

The brain can retain some degree of consciousness for “minutes to hours” after a patient has been declared dead by doctors, a science conference has heard.

After studying the near-death experiences of those who have recovered after experiencing a cardiac arrest, a researcher has called for a reappraisal of the “reversibility of death”.

She said her findings suggest that doctors should keep trying to save patients’ lives for longer, noting that hospitals should “re-evaluate [their] resuscitation efforts” and the point at which they begin harvesting organs for donation.

Death is defined as the irreversible cessation of circulatory and brain function — but the exact moment at which this takes place may be harder to pinpoint than previously thought.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/life-after-death-brain-works-for-a-while-after-the-body-dies-6hfm0t3f8

39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Something else to lose sleep over: Consciousness could last hours after 'death' (Original Post) Floyd R. Turbo 4 hrs ago OP
Pft.. I'm still waiting for my consciousness to start. Orrex 4 hrs ago #1
😁 Floyd R. Turbo 4 hrs ago #2
LOL BComplex 4 hrs ago #5
get better coffee! DBoon 4 hrs ago #17
You mean tRump might be aware of the incredible celebrations after his death? Whyisthisstillclose 4 hrs ago #3
🤗 Floyd R. Turbo 4 hrs ago #4
I love creative thinking bigtree 4 hrs ago #15
Bwaaaaah hahaha😀 malaise 4 hrs ago #16
He'd probably just think he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously. generalbetrayus 3 hrs ago #22
LOL! He'll still be a dimwit after death, won't he? Whyisthisstillclose 3 hrs ago #23
Snort! electric_blue68 57 min ago #38
Keep the electricity going and I'll be like Google on my cell phone bucolic_frolic 4 hrs ago #6
🤔 Floyd R. Turbo 4 hrs ago #7
I lost consciousness looking at that link. ornotna 4 hrs ago #8
👩🏼‍⚕️ Floyd R. Turbo 4 hrs ago #9
Paywall but, Disaffected 4 hrs ago #10
Weird! I don't get a paywall. Floyd R. Turbo 3 hrs ago #19
Here is a free archive link: Celerity 3 hrs ago #28
I think I go against the grain with a lot of DU on religious/spiritual issues so I look at this and think "sounds right" ck4829 4 hrs ago #11
Edgar Allan Poe wrote about taphophobia; the fear of being buried alive, stemming from the anxiety of being incorrectly sop 4 hrs ago #12
Also makes me think of Poe's short story BuddhaGirl 3 hrs ago #24
reign of terror - paragraph 2 tells of charlotte cordray ................. rampartd 4 hrs ago #13
YIKES! snot 3 hrs ago #27
... SSJVegeta 4 hrs ago #14
Gunga, gungagalunga shakeyslim 4 hrs ago #18
"So I got that going for me" MustBeTheBooz 1 hr ago #36
A friend reads about near death experiences told by Eben Alexander, MD. usonian 3 hrs ago #20
Wow! I'll delete it. Thanks! Floyd R. Turbo 3 hrs ago #21
Just because you retain some consciousness... OC375 3 hrs ago #25
Doesn't surprise me. We don't know the half of it. I'm sure. Joinfortmill 3 hrs ago #26
This message was self-deleted by its author wcmagumba 2 hrs ago #29
Consciousness is highly overrated. Ray Bruns 2 hrs ago #30
When we die, they change the sheets and get ready for a new patient. I ain't the Dalai Lama. twodogsbarking 2 hrs ago #31
Silliness ABC123Easy 2 hrs ago #32
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World --- A strange and disturbing and beautiful story erronis 1 hr ago #33
Cool! When I die I will make sure Netflix is on then I can binge watch some movies before I Go! Jacson6 1 hr ago #34
Just be careful what you say after the plug is pulled! Totally Tunsie 1 hr ago #35
I get "minutes" but not "hours". Laffy Kat 1 hr ago #37
I saw Charlotte Corday mentioned above canetoad 53 min ago #39
3. You mean tRump might be aware of the incredible celebrations after his death?
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:16 PM
4 hrs ago

Fanfuckingtastic! We all need to find out where he is and have the loudest party ever right outside the building

bucolic_frolic

(54,618 posts)
6. Keep the electricity going and I'll be like Google on my cell phone
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:20 PM
4 hrs ago

But seriously it makes sense, the chemistry infrastructure is in place even as the oxygen stops. I bet two AA batteries would keep me going for a week at least. Of course getting medicine to actually do this will require some serious adjustments to my will and perhaps lots of lawsuits.

Disaffected

(6,293 posts)
10. Paywall but,
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:40 PM
4 hrs ago

are they trying to tell us that not just brain activity, but brain activity sufficient to maintain consciousness, is possible for hours after cardiac arrest?

Should be an easy thing to test (for brain activity) but I am seriously doubtful it is true.

Floyd R. Turbo

(32,579 posts)
19. Weird! I don't get a paywall.
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 06:12 PM
3 hrs ago

A 2019 study found that “the brain is able to fire electrical signals many minutes after death, or even hours if preserved”.

Dr Sam Parnia, director of critical care and resuscitation research at New York University, said it is likely that the last thing heard by many people who die in hospital is the doctor uttering the words “time of death” as they remain conscious for longer than expected.

• On the paradise island where millionaires go to avoid death (and taxes)

A 2023 study in the Resuscitation journal found that “consciousness, awareness and cognitive processes may occur during cardiac arrest” for up to an hour while CPR is being performed.

Fowler said that death should be considered to have different phases, arguing: “You have stage three cancer, stage two cancer. Well, there are stages of death.”

ck4829

(37,543 posts)
11. I think I go against the grain with a lot of DU on religious/spiritual issues so I look at this and think "sounds right"
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:45 PM
4 hrs ago

My belief? Our consciousness is more than just neurotransmitters and hormones stuck in our brain. Exciting times. I hope more research is done into this.

sop

(18,070 posts)
12. Edgar Allan Poe wrote about taphophobia; the fear of being buried alive, stemming from the anxiety of being incorrectly
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 05:45 PM
4 hrs ago

pronounced dead. Poe's short story - 'The Premature Burial' (1844), about a man who lives in terror of being buried and waking up in a coffin - gave me nightmares as a child. Turns out I'm both taphophobic and claustrophobic.



BuddhaGirl

(3,704 posts)
24. Also makes me think of Poe's short story
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 06:25 PM
3 hrs ago

"The Cask of Amontillado" - I remember being freaked out. By it as a kid!

snot

(11,623 posts)
27. YIKES!
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 06:53 PM
3 hrs ago

I think I'd better share that with my family; I'd like to go on my own time.

usonian

(24,317 posts)
20. A friend reads about near death experiences told by Eben Alexander, MD.
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 06:17 PM
3 hrs ago

He had bacterial meningitis and was placed in a coma. He remembered his NDE and so do others. Neurosurgeon, so he did get intense care by other neurosurgeons, who kept hands off the plug.

I am content to read about this and skip the lab.

Dear Floyd, everything in your link after and including the question mark is an unnecessary tracker that may contain PII, or not. Just saying.

OC375

(589 posts)
25. Just because you retain some consciousness...
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 06:29 PM
3 hrs ago

Doesn't mean you are going want to be alive again in that damaged brain your consciousness would wake up in after being revived minutes to hours after you stop breathing. I'd imagine that for now this would be something that matters only for select scenarios?

Response to Floyd R. Turbo (Original post)

ABC123Easy

(177 posts)
32. Silliness
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 07:56 PM
2 hrs ago

As a YUUUGE fan of the zombie genre, I'm waiting for this research to lead us swiftly to a zombie apocalypse!

😃

erronis

(23,302 posts)
33. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World --- A strange and disturbing and beautiful story
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 08:09 PM
1 hr ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Minutes_38_Seconds_in_This_Strange_World

Delving into the world of semi-consciousness as death is taking hold.

Actually much more uplifting than I had expected.


Jacson6

(1,859 posts)
34. Cool! When I die I will make sure Netflix is on then I can binge watch some movies before I Go!
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 08:11 PM
1 hr ago

Totally Tunsie

(11,704 posts)
35. Just be careful what you say after the plug is pulled!
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 08:20 PM
1 hr ago

Your loved one may hear the words to give them a real awakening.

canetoad

(20,505 posts)
39. I saw Charlotte Corday mentioned above
Wed Feb 18, 2026, 09:07 PM
53 min ago

There's been several informal experiments conducted to ascertain consciousness after guillotining. Amazingly, a fairly recent study was undertaken here.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9930870/
"The Most Gentle of Lethal Methods": The Question of Retained Consciousness Following Decapitation

Abstract

Since the development of the infamous guillotine in the French Revolution, physicians have debated how long consciousness persists in decapitated heads. Fueled by anecdotes of severed heads that blink, blush, and appear to retain intelligence, numerous experiments have investigated this macabre subject for nearly 250 years. In this paper, we examine the evidence, both historical and modern, and ultimately conclude that, while the truth may never be fully known, all evidence appears to indicate that loss of consciousness appears to occur within seconds of decapitation. The rumors that circulated through the European consciousness during the Terror of the French Revolution appear to be just that - curious urban legends from an awed and terrified public.
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Something else to lose sl...