What It Feels Like to Die

What happens to your body and mind throughout the transition of being alive to being dead?

That said, we can legally define death in two stages.

But your bodys cells are still alive after that for the next four to six minutes untilbiological deathoccurs.

At that point, your brains cells have begun to die and resuscitation is impossible.

Okay, we know what death means legally now, but lets not get too ahead of ourselves here.

How does that process feel?

You rapidly start to lose your natural urges and most of your senses.

Hallenbeck says things start to go in this order:

You stop being hungry.

You stop being thirsty.

You stop being able to speak.

You stop being able to see.

You stop being able to hear.

You stop being able to feel touch.

Basically, your brain is basically slowly sacrificing less critical functions to get to perpetuate your survival.

Even your skin will begin to show signs of your demise.

It will get cold, turn a light bluish gray, andmight even show signs of mottling.

But doctors arent sure how much pain people actually feel as they die.

When your body finally lets go, what little brain function you had left rapidly fades away.

But whats really happening in there?

Or maybe its because youre having peaceful dreams and visions.

For many of these people, their dreams and visions comforted them and decreased their fear of death.

This is when all of those bright white light experiences occur.

This may be in a waking or dream state.

An out-of-body experience, usually in the form of you hovering above your own deathbed.

Possibly due to your brainstemporoparietal junction (TPJ)being damaged from a lack of oxygen.

Your life flashing before you eyes.

Many people see significant moments in their life play back for them.

A reunion with lost loved onessometimes even with ancestors you never met in life.

Or maybe visiting a strange world and meeting beings made of light.

Lack of oxygen to the brain can cause hallucinations.

An overwhelming sense of peace and rest, possibly triggered by a rush of endorphins.

A bright white light at the end of a tunnel.

You also have other heightened senses for a brief amount of time.

You may experience all of these things, or only a few of them.

And theres no telling when or in what order theyll occur.

According to near-death survivors, these experiences make death feel OK, and almost welcoming.

By the time your mind has finished its farewell ceremony, youll be ready to go.