Will your brain becomes hyperactive after your heart stops pumping blood?

Human Brain- The mystery organ 

Human race has conquered many areas in the field of science and technology with rigorous research. One thing that is challenging even for the advanced science is to reverse the process of death. Death by nature is irrevocable and most of the efforts to challenge it went in vein. Over centuries, death is considered to be a sudden process and is declared when once the victim stops breathing and his/her heart stops beating. Researches in the field of medicine proved that this assumption is not exactly true. It was medically proved by the researchers that DEATH is not a spontaneous process instead it is gradual. At this juncture we would like to introduce a question for which the world failed to converge at a unique answer.

                                                    " What happens after death?? "

Well the answer for this question is quite debatable and brings a dichotomy between science and spirituality. This question spoiled many minds and even led those to commit suicide in an act of exploring the answer for this question.  We are actually not interested in discussing spiritual concepts here but we would like to share the advancement that science had achieved in answering the above question.

       Though modern day science is at a very far distance from reviving a person from death, it succeeded to unleash an extra physical state before eternal death. This physical state called “CLINICAL DEATH” is considered to be the ultimate physical living state that would exist in one’s life.

What is Clinical death?

                 Clinical death is a medical term that describes the state in which the respiration and heart beat are completely ceased. Heart beat and respiration are the two factors that propel the human life and when these two key factors cease in a person, he will be considered Clinically dead and can reach the eternal death in the absence of timely medication and treatment.  It is key to observe the word clinically dead because before the advancements in cardiac treatments, a person is considered dead if his heartbeat and breathing gets ceased. With the introduction of “Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)” techniques, the number of victims revived from clinical death increased greatly. It means even when the heart stops beating and the victim cannot breathe any more, he/she can be survived with timely and professional CPR techniques by restarting the blood circulation process. It is with these kinds of victims the answer to the above question lies (who had experienced a near death popularly called Near Death Experience which is nothing but survival from clinical death).   

What happens during clinical death?

                This section seems a bit ridiculous but these were revealed after a lot of research with the people who had experienced a near death in their lives. Out of all the feelings, few are the impressions based on the life style that they spent in their lives. Some of the feelings include.

   1) Feel of levitation :- which makes the body very light which gives a feeling of getting separated from the body.

     
   2) Unconditional love and serenity: - This might sound a bit spiritual but majority of the victims declared that they had experienced this sort of unconditional love when their heartbeat is about to stop. Also few declared the presence of their loved ones who were already demised and some experienced a recap of their whole life in a glance.

   3)Observation of the medical personnel who are performing CPR:- When the victim is clinically dead , the medical personnel starts performing CPR and the victim who is clinically dead can visualize what is going on there but cannot respond to it until his heart starts picking its rhythm.   

      Along with the above expressions, one common feeling every one experienced in a clinical death is visualizing light. The victims under clinical death encounter a bright light hitting their eyes (just like plunging their face into a beam of powerful light) which was then followed by complete darkness.

      These are the feelings that were recorded from personal experiences. But why should we believe all these stuff?

Yes!! Why should we believe a person’s experiences without any established proof. Science believes in proofs not experiences. Experience will be treated as a fact when it is coupled with a valid proof. A study was initiated in the University of Michigan, to validate the above experiences. If you consider the above statements, they indirectly infer that the brain of the victim is still active even after the cardiac arrest. It is only with the aid of brain that we can think, assume and visualize. Here lies an interesting question. How can the brain function when the victim suffered a cardiac arrest? The same sort of research when done on rats revealed a shocking truth. Brain has always been a mystery organ in our body and the way we dream has no solid explanation even today. When the brain activity of the rats was examined, the researchers observed a surge in the brain activity for about 30 seconds after the rat’s heart stopped pumping. It completely disproved our assumption of reduced brain activity under clinical death. It is at that period right after the cardiac arrest, the brain becomes hyper active and especially the cells that are present in the visual cortex area were so active. So, this study on rats can be related to humans but cannot apply it as such to the heavy brains that we have. But this could possibly explain the Near death experience as the hyper active brain activity prevailing in that span of time.     

Click here to watch videos on performing Hands only CPR

What is CPR?

                 CPR is an absolute life saviour and it is a must do in every cardiac arrest. If the victim fails to respond even after considerable CPR then the doctor declares a person to be legally dead. When the heart stops pumping oxygenated blood then all the parts of the body starts to accumulate an injury called “ISCHEMIC INJURY” which is caused due to the scarcity of oxygenated blood. Different organs of the body have different time limits to sustain from ischemic injury. The organs present in the lower part of the body below heart can withstand the scarce oxygenated blood availability for around half an hour after cardiac arrest. This is the reason why we can re attach the detached limbs even after few hours. Brain in contrast reacts sensitive to ischemic injury. The neurons in the brain will accumulate considerable ischemic injury right after 3 minutes of cardiac arrest. It is within this time we need to  to regenerate pumping process to resuscitate the person. Some often experience brain death even though they were saved from clinical death, this is because of the considerable damage that was already done to the brain cells. So, when the heart stops pumping oxygenated blood to the brain, it starts accumulating ischemic injury and thus we need to avoid the injury by pumping the blood by artificial means, this is what CPR is intended to do.

                 Today heart attack has become the key factor for most of the deaths. This is due to stress filled lives and our unhealthy food practices. When a person suffers from cardiac arrest he will suddenly collapse to the ground. The usual practice we do is to call for an emergency service and wait for the ambulance to arrive. This approach is not correct and proper first aid and CPR can better the chances of saving a person’s life. There are many kinds of resuscitation techniques in practice among which the Hands-only CPR and CPR through shock treatment above person’s chest. Hands-only CPR need no equipment and your hands are enough to serve the purpose. So, during emergencies instead of waiting for the emergency services to arrive the bystanders must take a responsibility to perform hands only CPR. This approach may not enhance the condition but can stop further deterioration. Every second is very important when a victim is suffering from a cardiac arrest so it is always better to do something other than nothing until the medical services arrive at the scene. American heart association also suggested and started their campaign to bring awareness among the common people towards Hands-only CPR. Even though we don’t have any medical experience we can perform CPR and if we can follow few steps before performing CPR, it can bring out more than satisfactory results.

How can common public perform CPR for the victim in emergency?

                 Several CPR guidelines were framed separately for experts and laymen to achieve fair results after performing hands-only CPR. The CPR process normally consists of three activities.

                They are:-

a)      Chest compression (C)

b)      Air way inspection (A)

c)       Rescue Breathing (B)

So, when you observe a person who was suddenly collapsed, then what you need to do is to check whether the victim is conscious or not. If he/she is conscious then talk to them and give a sort of belief and start the process of CPR. Make the person lie on the ground and allow fresh air to pass through them. Locate the center point of the chest where there will be dent in between the rib cage. “CAB” is the order in which you need to follow. Don’t waste time in probing for life signs like pulse and airway movement. Start straight away with the chest compression (C) and the pace at which the chest compression is to be done is fixed a 100 compression /minute. Each compression must compress the persons chest to about 2 1/2 inches (approximately 5cm) this movement must be done without any pause until the emergency service arrives at the scene. Meanwhile you need to look for life signs in the person by observing the airway movement (airway is the path through which air enters the lungs). Occasionally you need to perform rescue breathing for the person by exhaling air into their mouth. We need not master the art of CPR but our acumen at the time of emergency and little knowledge on Hands-only CPR can save a life and thereby can save a family. In order to perform CPR which earns fruitful results one must follow the CPR guidelines framed, which are very lucid and can be understood by the non-medical personnel also.

            The CPR guidelines can guide you the way to perform CPR under different conditions and to locate the place on victim’s chest to perform chest compression so that the effort you put in will not go in vein. Click here to download CPR guidelines.  

             Saving other’s life is the greatest thing that one can achieve in their lives. No achievement can fetch you an immense satisfaction than this and so everybody must identify the need of reacting during emergencies. These kinds of hands only CPR techniques must be considered as basic first aid and must be added to the curriculum. Finally we conclude this essay with a few words, Life is a nature’s gift and it is completely the right of Mother Nature to take away that life from us and we don’t have any rights to shove our own life and of others into danger. All we have to do is to: 

                                                   " LIVE & HELP OTHERS LIVE "