What Happens When We Die?

While we don’t know if anything happens afterwards, we do know exactly what happens in the moments leading up the end. DR KATHRYN MANNIX leads you through the last few steps on your body’s journey

- Dr Kathryn Mannix

Like giving birth, dying is a bodily process with stages and recognisable progression. Also like birth, the speed of the process can vary from person to person. Medical support is sometimes needed to make dying (or giving birth) as safe and comfortable as possible.

As dying approaches, most people lose interest in eating and drinking. This is normal: spoonfuls of ‘tastes for pleasure’ may still be welcome when meals have become too much to manage. Dying people consistently lack energy. Many of us have experienced profound weariness caused by illness: the ‘can’t get out of bed’ state of severe flu, or overwhelming tiredness as we recover from surgery. 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.