Lack Of Oxygen and G-Induced Loss of Consciousness (G-LOC)

Some people have argued that support for the role of oxygen starvation in causing near death experiences also comes from reports of various hallucinations by some mountaineers and also air force jet pilots. For many years people who have climbed very high mountains, where there is a relative lack of oxygen without extra supplementary oxygen have reported experiencing certain hallucinations. There have also been reports of dream like states, feelings of detachment and euphoria reported by fighter pilots while flying high performance fighter planes. These have been reported most often at a time when the pilots have accelerated very suddenly. Due to the tremendous speeds reached with airforce jets any sudden change in direction will place an incredibly high pressure on the body of the pilot, which can be so high that it can lead to a sudden reduction in the flow of blood to the brain. These pressures are called G forces and due to the reduction in blood flow to the brain, can lead to pilot's losing consciousness in mid flight with possible fatal consequences. This phenomenon is called G-induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC). This phenomenon is often replicated during air force training sessions. Here trainee pilots are placed in a chamber that is spun around at very high speeds, which then recreates the changes in pressure (G forces) encountered during sudden acceleration in the air and may just like in real life also lead to a loss of consciousness. Some pilots have reported certain euphoria like states and even out of body experiences during these G-LOC episodes and so it has been suggested that as these experiences which are occurring as a consequence of a lack of oxygen to the brain are similar to near death experiences, perhaps the NDEs too are also occurring as a consequence of oxygen starvation to the brain.