What happens to the human mind and consciousness during death?

Does that cease immediately as soon as the heart stops? Does it cease activity within the first 2 seconds, the first 2 minutes? Because we know that cells are continuously changing at that time. Does it stop after ten minutes, after half an hour, after an hour? And at this point we don't know.

NVDL: Very interesting topic. Death isn't a moment, it's a process. People in general have very compartmentalised ways of thinking/judging everything. We're seldom willing to consider that 'maybe' area. That some things are neither in one category nor another. And that's where the truth of everything is, beyond the wire frames of our judgements.

clipped from news.yahoo.com People commonly perceive death as being a moment - you're either dead or you're alive. And that's a social definition we have. But the clinical definition we use is when the heart stops beating, the lungs stop working, and as a consequence the brain itself stops working. When doctors shine a light into someone's pupil, it's to demonstrate that there is no reflex present. The eye reflex is mediated by the brain stem and that's the area that keeps us alive; if that doesn't work then that means that the brain itself isn't working. So at that point I'll call a nurse into the room so I can certify that this patient is dead. Fifty years ago, people couldn't survive after that. But what is happening to the individual at that time, what's really going on? Because there is a lack of blood flow, the cells go into a kind of a frenzy to keep themselves alive. And within about 5 minutes or so they start to damage or change.