what happens just before you die?

Today, I try to answer if you see your life flash before your eyes when you die. First, let's start with what happens to your body depending on how you die.

Let’s start with drowning. This is a bad death, because you can’t breathe and you die underwater. What happens is that you try to get air but your mouth is under water. You freak out and you might breathe in water. This makes your voice box close and block your airways to protect your lungs. When this happens, you can’t yell for help. So, drowning is quiet. When you don’t get enough air, you get something called hypoxia. You pass out and your airway opens which lets water into your lungs. Too much time without air can make your heart stop and your brain die before you die. This is not a good way to die so wear a life vest if you can’t swim. Or use a pool toy to float. The unicorn one is cool right now.

Get a cup holder and a martini to enjoy this. Death by hypothermia, where your body gets too cold, makes you shiver a lot. After being in the cold for too long, your body slows down, including your breathing, heart and metabolism. You pass out before you die. This is how Jack died in Titanic. Spoiler alert, he became an ice cube and sank into the ocean. Rose let him go after saying she wouldn’t. Why did she do that? We think Jack could have fit on the door that was a raft. He didn’t try enough. You wouldn’t want to die in freezing water like this. It’s not fun, especially if you don’t like cold. Death by burning is the opposite and also terrible.

Sometimes, people burned at the stake in the dark ages died from too much carbon in their lungs before the fire ate them. This happens when you breathe in too much smoke. It’s not a nice way to die. It hurts a lot! But it’s better than feeling the fire burn your flesh. The human body can burn for hours but you might be dead before your skin cracks. The dermis, if you don’t know, is the thick skin under the thin skin. Sometimes burns damage your nerves so much that you can’t feel pain. But you’re probably dead before you notice that. The first pain of being burned alive can be so bad that some people die of shock, when their blood pressure gets too low and their organs stop working.

Suffocation and heat stroke can kill you before fire does. With heatstroke, your brain and organs swell and die. What about your mind before you die? People say weird things happen. Dr. Cameron Shaw cut up a woman’s brain to find out. What he found was creepy. First, he says, we lose ourselves. The brain dies from the top down and blood comes from below. The part that controls thinking and personality loses blood first as the brain drains. We lose our self, humor and plans in the first half of the 30 second countdown to death. Then, Dr. Shaw says, “our memories and language die, until we’re just a core.” You don’t know anything then. You shut down, go blank, fall into nothing. Dr. Shaw says you see a white light at the end of a tunnel but not for heaven.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Dr. Shaw says the white light is just tunnel vision from losing blood to your brain. You feel faint and see less, then dark. Dr. Shaw also says the “out-of-body” thing is fake. Some people say they float like ghosts and see stuff from above when they almost die. Dr. Shaw says it’s just your brain making stuff up. He says, “you’re blind but you see things that aren’t real.” Some people who had this say it was real and get mad at Dr. Shaw. What about seeing your life flash before your eyes? Yes, it happens but not like you think. You don’t see yourself as a baby and grow up.

It doesn’t happen like in the movies. You don’t see your life in order. You just see random memories that matter to you. The best or worst parts of your life pop into your head; Your first kiss, graduation, family time, wedding day, first kid, and more. Some people who almost died say they saw many memories in a short time. Some say it felt like ages. One person said they felt what their friends and family felt in each memory. They said, “I could see and feel their feelings.” Maybe this was to teach them to be nice to others?

It doesn't happen like in the movies. You don't see your life in order. You just see random memories that matter to you. The best or worst parts of your life pop into your head; Your first kiss, graduation, family time, wedding day, first kid, and more. Some people who almost died say they saw many memories in a short time. Some say it felt like ages. One person said they felt what their friends and family felt in each memory. They said, "I could see and feel their feelings." Maybe this was to teach them to be nice to others?

If you are dying from a sickness, you might lose consciousness first. But you might still hear or feel things. Your skin might turn blue. Your breathing might get loud and mucusy. You might stop and start breathing between breaths. This is called Cheyne Stokes breathing. It can last for a while before it stops for good. When you die, you might not feel bad or hurt because you don’t know you are dying. Some people think dying is peaceful because “ignorance is bliss.” Some people choose when and where to die and wait for their loved ones to come.

Some people choose when to die and wait for their loved ones. Others can’t and die alone. Some people feel bad for not being there when their loved one died. They might think they failed them. But the person probably didn’t know they were gone. If you feel sad, talk to a counselor who can help you. They know how to deal with grief. Getting help is good and we say you should do it if you lost someone. So, what did you like most about what happens before you die?