We are aware that we are dead when we die because our brains keep functioning to make us aware of what’s going on around us, terrifying new research suggests.

Top medical experts have forever been perplexed over what happens when humans die, with claims of bright lights and flashes reported by people who have ‘come back’ creating a ton of debate.

That said, a brand new study makes the claim that your consciousness continues to function after your heart stops beating and your body ceases to move.

This means you are basically ‘trapped’ inside your dead body with your brain still active, if only for a brief period of time.

People who have survived cardiac arrest were noticeably aware of what was going on around them while they were ‘dead’ before being ‘brought back to life’, the study stated.

Even more stunning, there is evidence to suggest the deceased might even be able to hear themselves being pronounced dead by their doctors.

Dr. Sam Parnia has studied consciousness after death and examining cardiac arrest cases for years in Europe and the US.

He says that individuals in the initial phase of death may still experience some form of consciousness.

The expert stated that people who have survived cardiac arrest were later able to accurately describe what was happening around them after their hearts ceased functioning.

He said: “They’ll describe watching doctors and nurses working, they’ll describe having awareness of full conversations, of visual things that were going on, that would otherwise not be known to them.”

When asked when a person if officially dead, he said: “It’s all based on the moment when the heart stops.

“Technically speaking, that’s how you get the time of death.”

His study is exploring what happens to the brain after a person enters into cardiac arrest – and whether consciousness continues on after death and for what period of time – to improve the quality of resuscitation and prevent brain injuries while attempting to bring back heart activity.