New Theory Links Near-Death Experiences to the Brain’s Final Moments

People who survive a brush with death often describe remarkably similar experiences, including leaving their bodies, traveling toward a bright light, encountering deceased loved ones, or feeling an overwhelming sense of peace.

A new scientific paper proposes that these widely reported experiences may not represent glimpses of an afterlife but instead the brain’s final dream-like simulation before consciousness ends.

Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the paper introduces what author Recai Kayış, a psychologist at Istanbul Aydın University in Türkiye, calls the “Dying-Moment Dream Hypothesis.” Rather than presenting new clinical data, the article combines findings from neuroscience, near-death experience research, dream studies, and psychology to propose a new explanation for why many people report similar experiences after coming close to death.

The theory remains a hypothesis, and the author emphasizes that it is intended to be scientifically testable rather than a proven explanation.

A brain turning inward in its final moments

Near-death experiences, or NDEs, have been reported by roughly 10% of people across dozens of countries, according to previous research cited in the paper. Common descriptions include out-of-body sensations, panoramic life reviews, encounters with bright lights or deceased relatives, and feelings of calm or transcendence.

Kayış argues these experiences may emerge because the dying brain temporarily shifts from processing the outside world to generating an internal simulation built from memories, emotions, and cultural beliefs.

The paper suggests that as oxygen levels fall and the brain loses sensory input, neural activity becomes focused on internally stored information. Personal memories, emotionally significant life events, and deeply held beliefs could then combine into a vivid, dreamlike experience that becomes the individual’s final conscious state.

“This experience is shaped by the individual’s emotional history, autobiographical memory, moral self-concept, and cultural schemas,” Kayış wrote.

What existing science says about the dying brain

The hypothesis draws on several areas of existing research rather than a single experiment.

Previous studies have reported brief surges of high-frequency gamma brain waves during the moments surrounding cardiac arrest. Gamma activity is associated with conscious perception, memory processing, and integrating information across different parts of the brain. The paper suggests these bursts could provide the neurological conditions needed for a highly organized internal experience.

The author also compares near-death experiences with REM sleep and dreaming. During dreams, emotional brain regions are highly active while areas responsible for logical reasoning become less dominant. According to the hypothesis, a similar imbalance during the dying process could allow emotionally powerful memories to shape the final experience.

Another key element involves the brain’s perception of time. The paper proposes that as normal time-processing networks begin to fail, a few seconds of brain activity could be experienced subjectively as much longer, creating the impression of an eternal experience.

The theory also discusses similarities between near-death experiences and psychedelic states but notes that naturally occurring brain chemicals such as DMT have not been shown to reach levels capable of fully explaining the phenomenon in humans. Instead, they may play only a supporting role if they contribute at all.

Why do people describe different afterlife experiences

One of the paper’s central ideas is that while many near-death experiences share broad patterns, their details often reflect a person’s cultural and religious background.

According to the review, people raised in Christian traditions frequently report tunnels, beings of light, and life reviews. Japanese experiencers more commonly describe crossing the Sanzu River, while some Hindu accounts involve encounters with Yamdoots and the deity Chitragupta. These differences suggest the brain may construct its final experience using familiar symbols drawn from an individual’s own memories and beliefs rather than depicting a universal afterlife.

“The afterlife is interpreted not as an objective place, but as a phenomenological process, one constructed from all that a person has felt, believed, feared, and loved,” Kayış concluded.

Researchers say the theory remains unproven

The paper also acknowledges significant limitations.

Scientists cannot directly measure a person’s conscious experience at the exact moment of irreversible death, making the hypothesis difficult to verify. The author notes that evidence for several proposed mechanisms, including the role of naturally produced DMT, remains incomplete.

Rather than claiming to solve the mystery of consciousness after death, the paper outlines several predictions that future studies could test using advanced brain monitoring, cross-cultural comparisons, and standardized assessments of near-death experiences. If future evidence contradicts those predictions, the hypothesis could be rejected.

For now, the work offers a new framework for studying one of neuroscience’s most enduring questions. Instead of treating near-death experiences as evidence for supernatural realms, it proposes they may represent the brain’s final attempt to construct meaning from a lifetime of memories as consciousness fades.