[SevenDeadly]

A secular explanation of the afterlife

Now, I'm not a doctor and I only have my journalism skills to research things pretty well.

First the medical brief. When oxygen supply to the brain is cut off, i.e. you're dead, the brain can stay active for as long as 40 hours, showing activity on an ECG.

Now, bear with me. When you sleep, you can go through as many as 4 REM cycles in an 8 hour period. This allows for a multitude of dreams, most of which we never remember or are even concious of. Now, how many times have you fallen asleep and found yourself wrapped up in a dream that seems to last hours, days, weeks, even years? Then you wake only to find you've only been asleep for ten minutes.

Most claim eternity is a drop in an ocean of time, that we cannot grasp eternity, but regardless of your religion, I think we all experience an afterlife because of this connection between dreams and death. If your brains stays active for as long as 40 hours after all other motor functions have ceased, couldn't that relatively short amount of real time be "an eternity" in your still alive brain? (or your soul if you will)

Now the fun part, heaven and hell

If your brain is your soul and your pious and caring, that is the environment in which you will inhabit during your afterlife. If you are uncaring and an asshole, your brain will reflect your attitudes into your afterlife.

[DrakkarTyrannis]

Eh..Rarely do I qoute the bible, but I feel the same way it does (the crowd gasps in horror). The dead know nothing. That's it. When you die it's like sleep, you don't go to heaven to play a concert with Jimi Hendrix or to Hell to become the 6th Spice Girl or whatever the hell it is people think happens. You as the mental entity has ceased to be. I of course could be wrong, I've never died so I can't say, but I guess I'll find out eventually. But I do believe death isn't the ominous demon people make it to be. There are things worse than death...trust me.

You don't become a guardian for some idiot on earth
You don't get 100 virgins
You don't roaming places, "haunting" them
You don't come back as something else

You rot in a box in the ground, spent and done. I think all the other theories about death were invented because people are scared of death. It makes you feel better about your inevitable demise if you think something special will happen after you can no longer enjoy the things in life you're afraid to lose. The idea that there's nothing scares the hell out of people. Fear you say? Well then, enter religion.....

[Naren]

Originally Posted by Zak1233

wow man, below 10 is like, dead lol
cos im in europe we use mmols or w/e its called lol lowest mines been was 0.8, adn i was out at that time so i had to go to a shop quick lol i gta try keep mine in between 4.0 - 10.0, do you just not feel yourself getting low is that how you dont realise it until your sooo low like below 10 :/ ???
that shit man
and yah as for the light thing, its just superstisious shit imo

Are you serious? In North America, Asia, and Australia (and Europe as well, I assumed), we use "blood sugar." Normal is between 80 and 140. Low is anything below that and high is anything above that. The highest I've ever had my blood sugar was around 700. The lowest was around 10.

OH, I feel it when it's low. I definitely definitely feel it. But sometimes by that time, it's already too late and I'm kind of out of it. It's especially useless if it gets that when when you're sleeping. I can usually tell my blood sugar just by how I feel. I'll go, "I'll bet my blood sugar is about 50" and I check it and it's 55. Or I'll go "I bet my blood sugar is around 320 or so" and I check it and it's 345. There are a few times where my eyes nearly pop out of my sockets, but yeah...

[Zak1233]

Originally Posted by Naren

Are you serious? In North America, Asia, and Australia (and Europe as well, I assumed), we use "blood sugar." Normal is between 80 and 140. Low is anything below that and high is anything above that. The highest I've ever had my blood sugar was around 700. The lowest was around 10.

OH, I feel it when it's low. I definitely definitely feel it. But sometimes by that time, it's already too late and I'm kind of out of it. It's especially useless if it gets that when when you're sleeping. I can usually tell my blood sugar just by how I feel. I'll go, "I'll bet my blood sugar is about 50" and I check it and it's 55. Or I'll go "I bet my blood sugar is around 320 or so" and I check it and it's 345. There are a few times where my eyes nearly pop out of my sockets, but yeah...

over here we use mmol/L tho maybe its just the UK but i always thought it was europe i dunno tbh but i knew for a fact that america etc didnt use mmol/L
and thats shit how you get like that man :/ do you use injections or an insulin pump?
lol sorry for goin off topic just curious

[jaxadam]

Originally Posted by SevenDeadly

A secular explanation of the afterlife

Now, I'm not a doctor and I only have my journalism skills to research things pretty well.

First the medical brief. When oxygen supply to the brain is cut off, i.e. you're dead, the brain can stay active for as long as 40 hours, showing activity on an ECG.

Now, bear with me. When you sleep, you can go through as many as 4 REM cycles in an 8 hour period. This allows for a multitude of dreams, most of which we never remember or are even concious of. Now, how many times have you fallen asleep and found yourself wrapped up in a dream that seems to last hours, days, weeks, even years? Then you wake only to find you've only been asleep for ten minutes.

Most claim eternity is a drop in an ocean of time, that we cannot grasp eternity, but regardless of your religion, I think we all experience an afterlife because of this connection between dreams and death. If your brains stays active for as long as 40 hours after all other motor functions have ceased, couldn't that relatively short amount of real time be "an eternity" in your still alive brain? (or your soul if you will)

Now the fun part, heaven and hell

If your brain is your soul and your pious and caring, that is the environment in which you will inhabit during your afterlife. If you are uncaring and an asshole, your brain will reflect your attitudes into your afterlife.

Very well put. This very exact thing has crossed my mind much more than once, but you said it a lot better than me.

[Jongpil Yun]

Originally Posted by SevenDeadly

First the medical brief. When oxygen supply to the brain is cut off, i.e. you're dead, the brain can stay active for as long as 40 hours, showing activity on an ECG.

Uh, no. You realize your brain uses about 20% of your body's oxygen, right? You stop breathing. You pass out in about three minutes. Consciousness is the FIRST thing to go. Control of vital functions is last. Assuming you don't start breathing again (and we will, because you're dead), you will never regain consciousness as your brain dies.

Now, bear with me. When you sleep, you can go through as many as 4 REM cycles in an 8 hour period. This allows for a multitude of dreams, most of which we never remember or are even concious of. Now, how many times have you fallen asleep and found yourself wrapped up in a dream that seems to last hours, days, weeks, even years? Then you wake only to find you've only been asleep for ten minutes.

Dreams happen in real time. It's the fact that they're chaotic and your recollection of them is fuzzy that leads to the perception of a long period of time.

Besides that, being unconscious is NOT the same as dreaming. Basically, when you're awake, all the parts of your brain are active, when you're sleeping, parts shut down (reality checking center), and one other notable part kicks in (the locus of your brain that paralyzes your body during REM sleep). When you've been knocked out and your brain is starving of oxygen, it is not the same as REM sleep -- the parts of your brain that would be generating the dream imagery are off.

Most claim eternity is a drop in an ocean of time, that we cannot grasp eternity, but regardless of your religion, I think we all experience an afterlife because of this connection between dreams and death. If your brains stays active for as long as 40 hours after all other motor functions have ceased, couldn't that relatively short amount of real time be "an eternity" in your still alive brain? (or your soul if you will)

Now, you would learn most of the stuff above in a CPR class. I know you're not a doctor, but a CPR class would be a good thing to take regardless. You can also take a trip to the nursing home and see how quickly massive brain damage sets in.

We know people hallucinate when the die, but the "white tunnel" doesn't match your descriptions either. The QuackCast has a great podcast on Near Death Experiences as well.

[auxioluck]

DMT. Read about it.

*Leaves thread*

[Naren]

Originally Posted by Zak1233

over here we use mmol/L tho maybe its just the UK but i always thought it was europe i dunno tbh but i knew for a fact that america etc didnt use mmol/L
and thats shit how you get like that man :/ do you use injections or an insulin pump?
lol sorry for goin off topic just curious

Injections. I would never use that fucking pump.

Originally Posted by Jongpil Yun

Dreams happen in real time. It's the fact that they're chaotic and your recollection of them is fuzzy that leads to the perception of a long period of time.

Besides that, being unconscious is NOT the same as dreaming. Basically, when you're awake, all the parts of your brain are active, when you're sleeping, parts shut down (reality checking center), and one other notable part kicks in (the locus of your brain that paralyzes your body during REM sleep). When you've been knocked out and your brain is starving of oxygen, it is not the same as REM sleep -- the parts of your brain that would be generating the dream imagery are off.

I know for a fact that that's not true. I've read about this before and I've experienced it myself.

You might say "they're chaotic and your recollection of them is fuzzy," but if they "took place in real time," then I wouldn't be able to remember dreams with crystal clear clarity that seemed to last for ridiculous periods of time. Last week, my girlfriend fell asleep on my bed. She couldn't have been asleep for more than 20 seconds, because I woke her up almost immediately after she closed her eyes, but when I woke her up, she continued to tell me the dream she had just had for the next 10 minutes. Within a period of 10-20 seconds, she had had a very complicated and detailed dream with tons of characters that seemed to last for a several days. Did it really last for several days? No. But the progression of her dream was no going in real time.

You are correct about being unconscious not being like REM sleep. I also don't think SevenDeadly's "Eternal Dream" idea makes much sense...

[JBroll]

JJ finds out what your natural hair color is.

Jeff

[TomAwesome]