A new study suggests your consciousness carries on functioning after your heart stops beating and your body movements fail. Well, isn't that terrifying! This means you are essentially 'trapped' inside your dead body with your brain still working, if only for a short time. Survivors of cardiac arrest were aware of what was going on around them while they were 'dead' before being 'brought back to life', the study revealed. More surprising still, there's evidence to suggest the deceased may even hear themselves being pronounced dead by doctors.
Doctors base death off the stoppage of the heart and researchers are trying to determine the length of consciousness the body has.
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