What happens when we die?
It's a question that has divided scientists and religious leaders for centuries, not to mention groups of friends down the pub. But we may be one step closer to knowing the answer.
A Reddit thread asking people who have been clinically dead to share their stories has received hundreds of responses in less than 24 hours.
Reddit user @hoogly_boogly asked the internet: "Redditors who have been clinically dead and then revived/resuscitated - what did dying feel like? Did you see anything while passed on?"
Several people online said they had experienced memory loss after being named clinically dead by medical staff:
Others described out of body experiences, claiming they felt they were viewing their physical body from a distance.
But the most common description was a feeling of peace:
The thread follows a similar post on Reddit that went viral in February.
A 22-year-old man, known only as @r00tdude, answered questions from people on Reddit after claiming to have "died twice" - once following a motorcycle accident and again when he received too many painkillers after surgery.
"I would describe it as when you take a nap. A short nap with no dream, you wake up and it feels like you've been sleeping a long time, when in reality it's only been about 15 minutes," the man said.
"Also, I was extremely exhausted when I 'came back to life'. It felt like I had just completely used up all the energy I had in my body."
The man's experience of nothingness seemed to contradict the findings of a study on life after death conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton.
The researchers examined more than 2,000 cases of cardiac arrest and found that 40% of patients who had been revived after experiencing cardiac arrest had some sort of "awareness" during the period when they were "clinically dead""
One man was even able to able to accurately describe what was happening in the room while he was unconscious.
H/T: The Independent
SEE ALSO:
How a Near Life Experience Changed My Life
Is There Life After Death? Study Suggests Consciousness Continues After Heartbeat Stops
