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

[Floyd R. Turbo]

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

[Orrex]

1. Pft.. I'm still waiting for my consciousness to start.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

2. 😁

[BComplex]

5. LOL

[DBoon]

17. get better coffee!

[Whyisthisstillclose]

3. You mean tRump might be aware of the incredible celebrations after his death?

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

[Floyd R. Turbo]

4. 🤗

[bigtree]

15. I love creative thinking

...

[malaise]

16. Bwaaaaah hahaha😀

[generalbetrayus]

22. He'd probably just think he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously.

[Whyisthisstillclose]

23. LOL! He'll still be a dimwit after death, won't he?

[electric_blue68]

38. Snort!

When it's time....
Cheer LOUDER!!! 👍😄

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Keep the electricity going and I'll be like Google on my cell phone

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.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

7. 🤔

[ornotna]

8. I lost consciousness looking at that link.

I think I’ll make it though.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

9. 👩🏼‍⚕️

[Disaffected]

10. Paywall but,

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]

19. Weird! I don't get a paywall.

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.”

[Celerity]

28. Here is a free archive link:

https://archive.ph/4n2aB

[ck4829]

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"

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]

12. Edgar Allan Poe wrote about taphophobia; the fear of being buried alive, stemming from the anxiety of being incorrectly

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]

24. Also makes me think of Poe's short story

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

[rampartd]

13. reign of terror - paragraph 2 tells of charlotte cordray .................

https://www.theguillotine.info/articles/livingheads.php

[snot]

27. YIKES!

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

[SSJVegeta]

14. ...

https://snapjudgment.org/story/dead-man-walking-snap-705-the-patient-2/#:~:text=June%209%2C%202017,Producer:%20Whit%20Missildine

[shakeyslim]

18. Gunga, gungagalunga

Those who know, know

[MustBeTheBooz]

36. "So I got that going for me"

Which is nice.

[usonian]

20. A friend reads about near death experiences told by Eben Alexander, MD.

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.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

21. Wow! I'll delete it. Thanks!

[OC375]

25. Just because you retain some consciousness...

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?

[Joinfortmill]

26. Doesn't surprise me. We don't know the half of it. I'm sure.

[Ray Bruns]

30. Consciousness is highly overrated.

[twodogsbarking]

31. When we die, they change the sheets and get ready for a new patient. I ain't the Dalai Lama.

[ABC123Easy]

32. Silliness

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

😃

[erronis]

33. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World --- A strange and disturbing and beautiful story

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]

34. Cool! When I die I will make sure Netflix is on then I can binge watch some movies before I Go!

[Totally Tunsie]

35. Just be careful what you say after the plug is pulled!

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

[Laffy Kat]

37. I get "minutes" but not "hours".

Rigor mortis often begins around two hours.

[canetoad]

39. I saw Charlotte Corday mentioned above

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.

[pattyloutwo]

40. Wow!

[NNadir]

41. When I have a chance, I'm sure I'll be able to personally investigate the matter, but I probably won't...

...get back to you with the results of the investigation.

[MineralMan]

42. Yeah, I'm not so sure about that, really.

I contracted viral encephalitis in 1991. Apparently, according to those who worked on me, I died multiple times through cardiac arrest. I was revived each time and woke up three days later in the hospital in Palm Springs. At no time during those three days do I remember a damned thing at all. Nothing. I woke up wondering where I was and WTF was going on.

Everything simply went dark until I came out of the coma I was in.

Did I have deficits? That was my question, so I started testing myself in the hospital bed. Nobody was paying any attention to me most of the time so, I was trying to assess my mental capabilities.

I found one deficit. I no longer had any ability to remember the multiplication tables. Gone, completely. It took me about four hours to mentally use addition to rebuild those tables in my brain. Kept me busy for a few hours, but the deficit went away. Nothing else was lost.

But, there is absolutely nothing in my head from the time I had the first cardiac arrest until I woke up in the hospital three days later. Nothinng.

A couple of weeks later, I returned to my work and only missed one month of my magazine column.