Expert on near-death experience of bright light at end of tunnel

NDE is commonly experienced by people who have suffered an extreme medical trauma, such as a heart attack or asphyxia. Patients who have experienced an NDE often recall seeing bright light

at the end of a tunnel, floating outside their bodies or even journeying into space among other things. NDEs have led some people to believe that there is such a thing as life after death.

However, a University of Cork professor suggests a more scientific reason for the phenomenon. Writing in the Irish Times, Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry William Reville argued that NDEs

probably reflect the activity of the dying brain as oxygen levels fall and carbon dioxide levels rise. He said: "NDE reports of light at the end of a dark tunnel could simply reflect

oxygen levels falling in the retina, starting at the periphery and moving inwards towards the centre, producing tunnel vision." There are those that believe NDEs raise the possibility

that human consciousness can exist independently of the human brain. Professor Reville didn't entirely rule this out. He concluded his article, by saying: "Nevertheless,

disembodied consciousness has yet to be definitively ruled out. READ MORE: HEART ATTACK SURVIVOR BELIEVES HE ENTERED 'ANOTHER REALM' Those themes were: fear, seeing animals or

plants, bright light, violence and persecution, deja-vu, seeing family and recalling events post-cardiac arrest. These mental experiences ranged from terrifying to blissful. There were those

who reported feeling afraid or suffering persecution, for example. Others, however, experienced the opposite sensation, with 22 percent reporting “a feeling of peace or pleasantness”.