Is it true that right before we die, everything flashes before our eyes?

You may have heard the cliché that a person's life flashes before their eyes right before death. This idea, however, has no scientific support.

For the first time, scientists may have established that this is true.

In a major study, researchers who were monitoring a patient's brain activity may have provided an indication of this intense remembrance that people tend to have before dying in a groundbreaking study.

Although scientists have tried a number of times to figure out what happens to our brains and bodies when we die, the majority of past research has focused on detecting vital signs or basic brain activity in patients who are being taken off life support or who are dying.

This new one-person research, on the other hand, adds to the evidence that memory retention is possible in controlled animal experiments.

The prevalence occurred as neuroscientists were analyzing an 87-year-old epilepsy patient's brain waves for seizures utilizing

An EEG (electroencephalography) gadget is a device that measures the electrical activity of the brain.

After a major fall, the patient had a bleed on the brain. The patient began to have seizures shortly after the operation, just when it looked that he was recovering.

He was given an EEG to assess the electrical activity of the brain, which confirmed the seizures – unfortunately, he experienced a heart attack and died halfway through.

"One thing we may take from this study is that, even if our loved ones' eyes are closed and they're ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be repeating some of the loveliest moments in their lives."

- Ajmal Zemmar, Study Author

As the man's brain activity was captured by the EEG machine during his final minutes of life, physicians followed the Do-Not-Resuscitate order and recorded roughly 900 seconds of the man's brain activity as he died.

Scientists were primarily interested in the 30 seconds before and after the heart stopped beating, believing that this might reveal important information about what happens in a dying brain.

Axial and coronal non-contrast CT scans show bilateral acute subdural hematoma, with the left side having a bigger mass impact (maximum thickness 1.5 cm).

(C,D) Identical scan patterns following a decompressive craniotomy show that the left subdural tumor has been evacuated — Trends in Aging Neuroscience is the source of this image.

Brain waves are a type of rhythmic electrical activity that occurs in normal live human brains and is associated with various states.

The study found an increase in gamma oscillations, which are brain waves that occur during dreaming and memory recall, as well as other brain waves including delta, theta, alpha, and beta vibrations.

Concentration, dreaming, meditation, memory recall, and conscious perception are all connected to gamma oscillations — in other words, flashbacks.

The researchers believe the dying 87-year-old individual was making a "final recall of life" based on the cross-connection between alpha and gamma activity, results from previous animal studies, and current understanding of the region.

Undergoing said that, this is the first study of its sort in people, and drawing any conclusions with confidence from the brain of a person having a heart attack and seizure may be premature.

However, the uncanny resemblance between the carefully controlled experimental mouse research and the current work shows that it may be more than a passing fad.

Scientists are cautiously hopeful about the findings, and, as with most scientific research, they will want to look at it much deeper in more cases before drawing any firm conclusions. We may soon be able to clear up some of the mystery surrounding what happens right before death.

The complete study was published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.