Will Science be able to Explain the Death Experience?

Certain things are constant in live, it you live long you will grow old, you will pay taxes directly or indirectly, and you will die. You see, i am not going to be talking about the first two today, instead i will be talking about the last one which is death. Let me guess, you do not like the topic but I am certain that for you to have clicked on this post then you want to satisfy your curiosity and learn science.

When a person dies, the lungs stop to contract and relax, which means the person isn’t breathing, the heart stops to pump blood to the body and as a result of this, the brain doesn’t receive oxygenated blood which causes it to begin shutdown. When tiis occurs, the body enters a state of primary flaccidity, and in the stage all muscles relax. Eyelid loses its tension, pupils dilate, limbs become flexible, and in some cases jaws drop open and it is during this scenario that funeral homes put cotton in the mouth of the cadaver or they stitch the mouth. In the relaxation of the muscles, the sphincter is not left out and this lead to release of fecal matter from the anus and urine from the penis or vagina.

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Before you start looking at the relaxation of muscles aa a bad thing, you should know that when a person dies, they wrinkles on their faces disappear as the muscles that causes the wrinkles relaxes but you wouldn’t call it botox because the face become saggy as a result of the relaxed muscles as well.

As a result of air remaining in the lungs, cadavers can make sounds such as moan, groan, or squeak when moved or pressure is placed on them. After this phase, the body goes to the Pallor Motis stage where the skin becomes washed out or pale as a result of no blood in circulation. This stage is usually visible in people who are light in complexion after which another stage known as Livor Motis begin its own presence as blood which is remaining in the body begin to drag downwards following gravity causing what is known as pooling which leaves the region where the blood moves towards becomes reddish purple in color.

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After about 3 hours, Rigor motis begins. Since the body no longer releases energy, so does Adenosine Trisphosphate become unavailable for muscles causing the body to stiff. Rigor Motis begins in the face and goes down the body ending at the toes and feet, but also in men the penis as it will be erect. This can last for two days after which the bocy begins to relax again as a result of the muscles breaking itself down as a result of no replenishing energy, in a condition known as Secondary Flaccidity.

Tache Noire can occur after Rigor Motis where the eye can dry out as a result of being opened when Rigor Motis ends. This leaves the eye black since the cornea dries up as a result of exposure to air. That said, people usually say that dead people have their hair and nails longer compared to when they were alive but this isn’t true because the hair and nails aren’t growing any longer. What happens is the skin getting dryer and shorter as a result of dehydration causing itto lool like the hair and nails increases but then after about 1 month, the nails ans hair begin to fall off.

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If the corpse doesn’t find its way to the morgue, mortuary, or mobid anatomy depending on which one you are conversant with, then you would expect that the internal organs begin to decay after few days releasing two chemicals cadaverine, and putrescine. This two chemicals cannot be overpowered by your air freshener sprays or that expensive chanel no 5 can’t perform the magic you expect.

The smell from these chemicals cause flies to gather round the body who come to the body to lay their eggs that later hatches to become maggots. These maggots alongside other organisms can begin to feast on the body and then take away the entire soft tissues leaving bones which becomes leftovers for the wind, rain, and other climatic conditions to interact with. Soon, in months and years, the joints if the skeleton starts to detach and over decades and centuries we become dust.

This said, some people believe that when we die, nothing happens. We just lose our consciousness, we cannot think, and everything disintegrates but then, some religion and cultures hold on to their beliefs on what life after death looks like but we are not going to be looking at them. Let’s look at what science says.

When people have cardiac arrest, the heart stops pumping, breathing stops, and without these two, a person is considered clinically dead and can still be revived. With scientific research, some people who were studied during their near death experience said they were aware of what was going on around them, but cannot recall any major one. Some saw their lifetime flashing at them, some people saw light at the end of a tunnel, some recalled having terrible experiences, while 2% could recall what happened around them as they were aware.

Certain researchers have said that patients who have cardiac arrest should not be considered dead since they can still be resuscitated and the brain is still functioning, so they could be dreaming while in a fainting state. All these said, science has not been able to give us a perculiar answer to what happens during the life and death line, or what happens after death.

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REFERENCE

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https://www.healthdigest.com/1454503/what-happens-to-skin-after-death
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539741/
https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2022/02/22/what-happens-in-our-brain-when-we-die/
https://www.nyas.org/ideas-insights/blog/what-can-science-tell-us-about-death/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6170042/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6172100/
https://australian.museum/learn/science/stages-of-decomposition/
https://www.medicinenet.com/what_are_the_stages_of_rigor_mortis/article.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK549867