I spend hours on the internet reading various e-magazines, often going down a path of interest leading me far from my goal—namely getting a thought-provoking newsletter to you more or less every two weeks.  Yesterday, I found this study in the journal ‘Brain Communications’ about how near-death experiences (NDE) in humans may have an evolutionary origin; it’s a definite read and share investigation.  Let’s start with thanatosis (feigned death or ‘playing possum’) as it occurs in animals under attack by predators. 

An artist created the above cartoon from a real-life video involving an impala who goes limp after being caught by a cheetah who then is bullied by a hyena thus allowing the impala to make a get-away.  If you would like to see the actual dramatic footage from Africa, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqlGjX1MtVg.  After that, google ‘thanatosis’ or ‘thanatosis in insects’ to see an enormous array of animals, and insects, many on their backs with feet in the air, feigning death when threatened by those higher on the food chain. Another interesting link is found at https://www.thoughtco.com/why-some-animals-play-dead-373909.

 The authors of this study define NDEs as “unique conscious, self-related emotional, spiritual and mystical unexplained experiences occurring in life-threatening situations or situations that may feel life-threatening, including cardiac arrests, traffic accidents, physical assaults and drug abuse.”

They searched for examples of encounters between humans and big animals including sharks, and heard or read testimonials from survivors of mass executions, genocide, or terrorists attacks for examples of thanatosis or NDEs. After compiling their data, they concluded that thanatosis occurs across a wide range of creatures from arthropods to humans, and that playing dead or going into an NDE sort of dream or trance was definitely associated with survival.  See below for an archived account of a human/lion interaction in the 19^th century, and a few other such stories are included in the material in “Brain Communications”.

 You can skim or read the entire study material at https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/3/3/fcab132/6307709 .  Next newsletter I will include the physiology that accompanies human and probably other animal species when flight is not an option but feigning death or entering a dreamlike state may be a life saver. And the NDEs associated with “out-of-body experiences, feeling one with the universe, feeling peace and acceptance, sometimes even joy, and visual and auditory hallucinations, including seeing bright lights, being in a tunnel and meeting spirits or ancestors” can become a life-changing memory.

 Interested in reading the entire study?  Visit: https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/3/3/fcab132/6307709.

 Thanks for reading, double thanks for feedback!

 DenverDoc

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