[imagesource: Javier Hirschfeld/ Getty Images]
The subject of death and dying has been extensively written about in almost every area of interest to people, such as in philosophy, religion, spirituality, poetry, and medicine.
It has been on the minds of humans, as conscious beings, since as far back as we can remember.
While we can only speculate what happens to our form after death, the actual process of dying can be well accounted for.
Palliative care doctor and author Kathryn Mannix, via Science Focus, opens up about what it feels like for a person to die, giving a thorough breakdown of the last few steps on your body’s journey.
The subject is grim, but Mannix believes it is best to break the taboo that exists around death.
With so much of it happening around us, and with our own demise approaching day by day (yep, we’re all going to die eventually), understanding more can help us to feel less afraid.
As death comes knocking, eating and drinking becomes an afterthought, although Mannix says “spoonfuls of ‘tastes for pleasure’ may still be welcome”.
Energy levels drop severely:
Sleep usually recharges our energy and can be part of recovery but, at the end of life, sleep gradually makes less impact as the body winds down towards dying.
What appears to be sleep could actually be a moment of unconsciousness:
A dying person spends progressively less time awake. What looks like sleep, though, gradually becomes something else: dipping into unconsciousness for increasing periods.
On waking, people report having slept peacefully, with no sense of having been unconscious.
Mannix advises that this is the time to switch to medications that don’t require the person to be awake to swallow them, like skin patches, syringe pumps, or even suppositories.
In the final moments, the heart tends to beat weaker, blood pressure falls, organs slow down, the skin cools down, and nails become dusky.
Periods of restlessness, moments of confusion, or a gradually deepening unconsciousness takes hold.
While there is very little research to show what a dying person experiences in the final moments, there has been some research that shows how the unconscious brain close to death can still respond to noises in the room.
Then, breathing becomes strange:
Unconscious people’s breathing follows automatic patterns generated by the respiratory centre in the brain stem.
Because they’re unaware of their mouth and throat, dying people may breathe heavily, noisily or through saliva in the back of their throat, yet without apparent distress.
Eventually breathing slows, pauses and then ceases. Without oxygen, the heart will finally make one last thump.
Just like giving birth, dying happens in stages that progress until the body totally shuts down.
You can watch the BBC’s short film on dying with Kathryn Mannix for more:
Understanding how death occurs can make us feel more prepared, for ourselves or for a loved one, but it doesn’t make it any easier.
[source:sciencefocus]
