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Prevalence of near-death experiences and REM sleep intrusion in 1034 adults from 35 countries

Daniel Kondziella, Markus Harboe Olsen
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/532341
Daniel Kondziella
1Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
2Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark
3Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
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Markus Harboe Olsen
4Department of Neuroanesthesiology, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
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ABSTRACT

Background Near-death experiences have fascinated humans for centuries, but their origin and prevalence remain unknown.

Methods Using an online crowdsourcing platform, we recruited 1034 lay people from 35 countries to investigate the prevalence of near-death experiences and self-reported REM sleep intrusion. Reports were validated using the Greyson Near-Death Experiences Scale (GNDES) with a score of ≥7 as cut-off point for identifying near-death experiences.

Results Near-death experiences were reported by 106 of 1034 participants (10%; CI 95% 8.5-12%). REM sleep intrusion was more common in people with near-death experiences (n=50/106; 47%) than in people with experiences with 6 points or less on the GNDES (n=47/183; 26%) or in those without any such experience (n=107/744; 14%; p=<0.0001). Following multivariate regression analysis to adjust for age, gender, place of origin, employment status and perceived danger, this association remained highly significant; people with REM sleep intrusion were more likely to exhibit near-death experiences than those without REM sleep abnormalities (odds ratio 2.85; CI 95% 1.68-4.88; p=0.0001).

Conclusions The prevalence of near-death experiences in the public is around 10%. While age, gender, place of residence, employment status and perceived threat do not seem to influence the prevalence of near-death experiences, there is a significant association with REM sleep intrusion. This finding is in line with the view that despite imminent threat to life, brain physiology must be well-preserved to perceive these fascinating experiences and store them as long-term memories.

Footnotes

  • Financial disclosures: The authors have no financial disclosures

  • Funding: None

  • Ethics: The Ethics Committee of the Capital Region of Denmark waives approval for online surveys (Section 14 (1) of the Committee Act. 2; http://www.nvk.dk/english).

  • Trial registration: This study was pre-registered, including all hypotheses, with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/ykr3g)

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted January 28, 2019.
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Prevalence of near-death experiences and REM sleep intrusion in 1034 adults from 35 countries
Daniel Kondziella, Markus Harboe Olsen
bioRxiv 532341; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/532341
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Prevalence of near-death experiences and REM sleep intrusion in 1034 adults from 35 countries
Daniel Kondziella, Markus Harboe Olsen
bioRxiv 532341; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/532341

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