It’s understandable that many people hear the phrase “near-death experience” and assume it means a person has actually died. You might wonder, is an NDE the same as dying? But while NDEs typically happen close to death, they are not the same as dying. In fact, many people who’ve had a near-death experience were never clinically dead at all. So what exactly separates an NDE from actual death?
Clinical death is typically defined as a point at which a person has:
- No detectable heartbeat
- No observable respiration; they’re no longer breathing
- No measurable brain activity
Clinical death isn’t quite the same as biological death. A person who is clinically dead might still be able to be resuscitated, whereas those who are biologically dead can’t be.
Some of those who’ve had near-death experiences were clinically dead while having them. But many others were not dead during their near-death experiences. And some people have also reported having experiences very similar to NDEs—what researchers refer to as “near-death-like experiences”, or NDLEs—at times when they’re not actually in any immediate danger.
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So what is an NDE, really?
We have an article explaining what NDEs are at greater length, and we recommend giving that a read if you’re interested in learning more. But let’s briefly summarize what an NDE is, in the context of answering the question at hand: is an NDE the same as dying?
Simply put, an NDE is a profound and usually pleasurable experience in which a person experiences an otherworldly (but incredibly vivid and real) reality. This is often the result of a person being dead for a time, or in situations where they might reasonably expect to die—serious physical injury, illness, or situations of extreme danger, such as in combat or disasters.
Near-death experiences have been reported in those who were clinically dead for a time. And for them, you might answer this question of whether an NDE is the same as dying differently. But death isn’t necessarily a factor in having an NDE. And NDLEs can occur when there’s no perceived risk of death at all, like during meditation or while coping with deep sorrow or grief.
This is at least partly why some argue that NDEs do not provide definitive proof of an afterlife. And to non-experiencers, that seems to make sense. After all, if an experiencer wasn’t clinically dead, why would they visit the afterlife? Though many experiencers would argue that their own perspectives offer a degree of insight not afforded to those who haven’t had NDEs of their own.
So what’s the verdict? Is an NDE the same as dying?
Ultimately, no, an NDE is not the same as dying. Not everyone who has NDEs is clinically dead when they occur, and we can’t yet point toward conclusive science that proves an existence of an afterlife, or showcase that NDEs serve as some sort of bridge to one.
But we also need to stress that the field of near-death studies is still comparatively young. New research emerges regularly, and our understanding of near-death experience is constantly evolving.
At IANDS, we’re committed to finding the answers to these questions about near-death experiences and related transpersonal experiences. With contributions from people like you, IANDS can continue to research these extraordinary scientific phenomena while doing what we can to support experiencers and educate the world.
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