• Question: Is it true that when you die your brain has 9 minutes left of activity?

    Asked by themystic to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 28 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      I heard somewhere that your brain can survive about 8 or 9 minutes without oxygen before being seriously damaged. I think that is probably taken as the time from when your heart stops beating, which some people describe as being ‘medically dead’, but only people who write in newspapers.

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      I don’t know if it’s 9 minutes, but your brain can survive for a short while after your heart stops beating (which is why first-aiders are taught CPR since it can’t survive long enough to get you to hospital). Once the oxygen in the blood that’s in your brain is gone, then I don’t imagine that it lasts for long.

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