Throughout human history, everyone has been interested in the question of what happens after death. What awaits us after our heart stops? This is a question that scientists recently received an answer to.
Of course, there have always been assumptions, but now it has become completely clear that people after death can hear and understand what is happening around them. Of course, this has nothing to do with paranormal phenomena, because a person, in fact, lives for some time. It has become a medical fact.
Heart and brain
It is important to understand that absolutely any death occurs under one of two conditions or in the presence of two conditions at once: either the heart stops working or the brain stops working. If the brain stops working as a result of serious damage, then death occurs immediately after shutdown " central processor» person. If life is interrupted due to some kind of damage that causes the heart to stop, then everything is much more complicated.
At New York University, scientific experts have determined that after death a person can smell, hear people speak, and even see the world with his own eyes. This largely explains the phenomenon associated with seeing the world during clinical death. There have been incredibly many cases throughout the history of medicine when a person talked about his feelings while in this borderline state between life and death. The same thing happens after death, scientists say.
The heart and brain are two human organs that work throughout life. They are connected, but sensations are available after death precisely thanks to the brain, which still transmits information from the nerve endings to consciousness for some time.
Psychics' opinion
Bioenergetics specialists and psychics began to assume a long time ago that a person does not die instantly as soon as his brain or heart stops working. No, it's much more complicated. This has been confirmed by scientific research.
The otherworldly world, according to psychics, depends on the present and visible world. When a person dies, they say that he sees all his past lives, as well as his entire current life, at once. He experiences everything again in an infinitesimal fraction of a second, turning into nothingness and then being reborn again. Of course, if people could die and immediately return, then there would be no questions, but even experts in the field of esotericism cannot be 100 percent sure of their statements.
A person does not feel pain after death, does not feel joy or grief. He simply remains to live in the other world or moves to another level. No one knows whether the soul goes into another body, into the body of an animal or a person. Maybe it's just evaporating. Maybe she lives forever in best place. Nobody knows this, which is why there are so many religions in the world. Everyone should listen to their heart, which tells them the right answer. The main thing is not to argue, because no one can know for sure what happens to the soul after death.
Soul as something physical
The human soul cannot be touched, but it is possible that scientists, oddly enough, have been able to prove its presence. The fact is that when a person dies, for some reason, he loses 21 grams of his weight. Always. Under any circumstances.
No one has been able to explain this phenomenon. People believe that this is the weight of our soul. This may indicate that a person sees the world after death, as scientists have proven, only because the brain does not die immediately. It doesn't really matter because the soul leaves the body, we remain unreasonable. This may be the reason why we cannot move our eyes or speak after cardiac arrest.
Death and life are interconnected; there is no death without life. You need to approach the other world more simply. It is better not to try too hard to understand it, because no scientist can be one hundred percent accurate. The soul gives us character, temperament, the ability to think, love and hate. This is our wealth, which belongs only to us. Good luck and don't forget to press the buttons and
07.11.2017 15:47
Since ancient times, people have wondered what awaits them after completing their earthly journey. Famous clairvoyant...
In many ways, a person is called a rational person and differs from irrational creatures by the ability to ask himself the question: what happens after death? He builds an answer to it according to his own thoughts and experience, the words of representatives of religions, in the works of philosophers, biologists, etc.
Unfortunately, often the stimulus for such fabrications is the death of a loved one and the desire to find out whether further life happens to a person after death, dictated by love for him.
We have prepared a small reference summary of everything that is important and accumulated among humanity. And it has accumulated a lot.
When starting a task, a person sooner or later looks for meaning in its completion. And considering that we are at quite high level progress, compared even with ancient times, the answer was found and became the foundation for the further superstructure of the building of civilization.
Few people today dare to attempt their own statements that differ from the generally accepted ones about what happens to the human body after death. This was possible in the era of the ban on any research on the dead, mainly in the Middle Ages. Now the science of death thanatology identifies clear periods with time boundaries for phenomena in the body after the death of a person.
In a deceased person, after biological death (irreversible cardiac arrest and cessation of nutrition to the brain), autolysis occurs, or in other words, self-destruction. This mechanism is present in every living creature. And indeed, if the animals did not decompose, it would be impossible to enter the forest or park because of the corpses filling everything.
All cells are chemically acidified(remember the theories of many unconventional treatment methods about the need to drink only living, alkalized water with a pH greater than 7). The acidic environment attracts enzymes and bacteria, which essentially eat the cells. By the way, during life they help us digest food while in the intestines. And after this is no longer necessary, they serve their master as destroyers.
Lack of pressure in the vessels leads to their fragility. This is how blood pours out after death, forming bluish cadaveric bruises on the skin.
Muscles stop contracting and freeze in one position, usually in the one in which the person was (if he died at room temperature).
Bacteria penetrate all organs within 58-72 hours. This is how the total destruction of all cells begins. This is accompanied by an unpleasant putrid odor, well known to pathologists, forensic experts and other people professionally dealing with death.
Any person is forced to experience all this, and it makes no difference whether a person was unbaptized or baptized; after death, everyone faces the same outcome.
However, there have been and are attempts to stop this process and preserve the body. First of all, this concerned mummies: from deceased Egyptian pharaonic rulers to modern leaders: in Moscow there is still a research institute for embalming methods. For ordinary, forgive the stupid pun, mortals, they came up with so-called drugs. frosts. They prevent the destruction of organs by bacteria for several days.
It is believed that the brain is the first thing to die after death. It's all about the increased need for oxygen. For this reason, the largest arteries go to it.
However, facts are known about the movements of the eyes, mouth and even the production of sounds in people executed through the guillotine. This occurs within 5 minutes after the heart stops and, with it, blood pumping.
Scientists connected electrodes that record electrical rhythms to the heads of dying patients. It turned out that after death was declared, the brain was still working, which was confirmed by recording the curve. No one knows what exactly happens at these moments, because there is no one to tell.
Memory and knowledge after death should theoretically be preserved: they are recorded inside brain structures: the hippocampus, the amygdala and others. However, sooner or later they die with subsequent destruction.
Consciousness is awareness of oneself at a certain moment in time. It is logical that this is only possible at the moment when a person’s brain is functioning.
Consciousness after death ceases to exist in our material world. However, judging by the experiments with recording of the electroencephalogram described above, there is reason to believe that there is some continuation of brain function. It is possible that consciousness is modified into a structure that cannot be recorded with modern equipment.
Here it is appropriate to draw an analogy with the perception of sounds by the human ear: immunity to high ranges does not mean the absence of such a range.
What happens to a person's soul after death?
Since ancient times, different concepts of people's faith have offered their thoughts about. However, they all have one common foundation: a person faces a trial that determines the quality of a person’s life. As an example, let us offer the worldview of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt.
After death, a person goes into a certain labyrinth, where he is tested.
At successful completion The following happens to a person’s soul after death: his heart is torn out from his body remaining in the ground and placed on scales. If it is equal in weight to a feather, it means that he was sinless and goes to heaven: a place with fertile land, personal slaves and other benefits. If the heart outweighs, it means it is filled with sins. And such an Egyptian is instantly devoured by a crocodile monster.
Hindus have a special opinion about what happens to a person's soul after death. They believe in reincarnation, that is, the transmigration of the soul. Again, according to her righteousness. Possible in next life become a rich merchant, or you can become a stray dog.
Buddhists have a similar opinion, but they have no idea about the endless rebirth of the soul. Ultimately, she must achieve nirvana - detachment from everything and everyone.
In the Islamic tradition the soul is in its body, as it was on earth, but at the age of 33 it must cross the Sirat bridge. The sinner will fall down into the underworld and will be tormented by various creatures. The righteous will end up in the Garden of Eden.
According to Christian beliefs, there is no death. For them, earthly life is just a stage. And it ends with coming to the Father God. Paradise is a place of constant communication, connection with it, happy for every person.
The funeral takes place on the third day, and this is not without reason. On the third day, according to the Bible, Jesus was resurrected. Having died, he also seems to be resurrected, but he comes not to his temporary body, but to his parent God.
What does the soul do 9 days after death?
When the holy Christian fathers were asked what the soul does for 9 days, they cited 9 ranks of angels as an example.
Only by the 9th day do the dead realize that they are dead, and before that they walk on the earth as if drunk (Paisius the Svyatogorets).
9 days after death in Christian tradition this is the moment of understanding that God’s judgment of the human soul will soon take place.
What does the soul do 40 days after death?
What does the soul do 40 days after death? The answer is complex and simple: recognizes all his sins and fearfully awaits the assessment of his whole life before God.
40 days after death, God sends the soul to heaven or hell. Here again there are scales, on one scale of which the devil puts the evil deeds of man, and the good angels. Jesus is watching from above it all. What will outweigh will be clear and obvious to everyone present.
According to church tradition, the soul will be returned to the body, but this will happen after Last Judgment, or, in other words, the end of the world. When he dies old world and the new one will be populated by the righteous.
What happens to the soul a year after a person dies?
Christian saints were in no hurry to give unambiguous advice to loved ones and interpretations of what was happening to the soul a year after death.
The anniversary after death is the day special commemoration, a day created for fervent prayer to God for your deceased relative.
The soul is in Eternity- this is the exhaustive answer of the prophets and saints. And everyone should understand this in their own way.
By the way! By the way, if you believe in the energy of magic, you can order it very inexpensively for yourself or from the winner of the battle of psychics, Swami Dasha
Conclusion
All religions and simply philosophical systems assumed continuation after the death of a person. The concepts of soul, heaven, and hell were introduced over the long years that humanity existed. However, the definitions of righteousness and sinfulness, good and evil remained eternal. A good person who does no harm to anyone has nothing to fear - that’s the main thing.
The afterlife and its uncertainty is what most often leads a person to think about God and the Church. After all, according to teaching Orthodox Church and any other Christian doctrines, the human soul is immortal and, unlike the body, it exists forever.
A person is always interested in the question of what will happen to him after death, where will he go? The answers to these questions can be found in the teachings of the Church.
The soul, after the death of the bodily shell, awaits the Judgment of God
Death and the Christian
Death always remains a kind of constant companion of a person: loved ones, celebrities, relatives die, and all these losses make me think about what will happen when this guest comes to me? The attitude towards the end largely determines the course human life- waiting for it is painful or a person has lived such a life that at any moment he is ready to appear before the Creator.
Read about the afterlife in Orthodoxy:
Trying not to think about it, erasing it from your thoughts, is the wrong approach, because then life ceases to have value.
Christians believe that God gave man an eternal soul, as opposed to a corruptible body. And this determines the course of the whole Christian life- after all, the soul does not disappear, which means it will definitely see the Creator and give an answer for every deed. This constantly keeps the believer on his toes, preventing him from living his days thoughtlessly. Death in Christianity is a certain point of transition from worldly to heavenly life, and where the spirit goes after this crossroads directly depends on the quality of life on earth.
Orthodox asceticism has in its writings the expression “mortal memory” - constantly holding in thoughts the concept of the end of worldly existence and the expectation of the transition to eternity. That is why Christians lead meaningful lives, not allowing themselves to waste minutes.
The approach of death from this point of view is not something terrible, but a completely logical and expected action, joyful. As Elder Joseph of Vatopedi said: “I’ve been waiting for the train, but it still doesn’t come.”
The first days after leaving
Orthodoxy has a special concept about the first days in the afterlife. This is not a strict article of faith, but the position held by the Synod.
Death in Christianity is a certain point of transition from worldly to heavenly life
Special days after death are:
- Third- This is traditionally a day of commemoration. This time is spiritually connected with the Resurrection of Christ, which occurred on the third day. St. Isidore Pelusiot writes that the process of Christ's Resurrection took 3 days, hence the idea that the human spirit also passes into eternal life. Other authors write that the number 3 has a special meaning, it is called God’s number and it symbolizes faith in the Holy Trinity, therefore a person should be remembered on this day. It is in the requiem service of the third day that the Triune God is asked to forgive the deceased’s sins and forgive him;
- Ninth- another day of remembrance of the dead. St. Simeon of Thessalonica wrote about this day as a time to remember the 9 angelic ranks, to which the spirit of the deceased can be ranked. This is exactly how many days are given to the soul of the deceased to fully understand its transition. This is mentioned by St. Paisius in his writings, comparing a sinner with a drunkard who becomes sober during this period. During this period, the soul comes to terms with its transition and says goodbye to worldly life;
- Fortieth- This is a special day of remembrance, because according to the legends of St. Thessalonica, this number is of particular importance, because Christ was ascended on the 40th day, which means that the deceased on this day appears before the Lord. Also, the people of Israel mourned their leader Moses at such a time. On this day, not only should there be a prayer asking for mercy from God for the deceased, but also the magpie.
The above three dates are necessary for special remembrance and prayer for the departed. During this period, their fervent prayers for the deceased reach the Lord and, in accordance with the teachings of the Church, can influence the final decision of the Creator regarding the soul.
Where does the human spirit go after life?
Where exactly does the spirit of the deceased reside? No one has an exact answer to this question, since this is a secret hidden from man by God. Everyone will know the answer to this question after their repose. The only thing that is known for sure is the transition of the human spirit from one state to another - from the worldly body to the eternal spirit.
Only the Lord can determine the eternal place of the soul
Here it is much more important to find out not “where”, but “to whom”, because it doesn’t matter where a person will be after, what’s most important is with the Lord?
Christians believe that after the transition to eternity, the Lord calls a person to judgment, where he determines his place of eternal residence - heaven with angels and other believers, or hell, with sinners and demons.
The teaching of the Orthodox Church says that only the Lord can determine the eternal place of the soul and no one can influence His sovereign will. This decision is a response to the life of the soul in the body and its actions. What did she choose during her life: good or evil, repentance or proud exaltation, mercy or cruelty? Only a person’s actions determine eternal existence and the Lord judges by them.
From the book of the Revelation of John Chrysostom, we can conclude that the human race faces two judgments - individual for each soul, and general, when all the dead are resurrected after the end of the world. Orthodox theologians are convinced that in the period between an individual judgment and a general one, the soul has the opportunity to change its verdict, through the prayers of its loved ones, good deeds that create in his memory, memories in Divine Liturgy and funeral service with alms.
ordeals
The Orthodox Church believes that the spirit goes through certain ordeals or tests on the way to the throne of God. The traditions of the holy fathers say that ordeals consist of exposure evil spirits, which make you doubt your own salvation, the Lord or His Sacrifice.
The word ordeal comes from the Old Russian “mytnya” - a place for collecting fines. That is, the spirit must pay some fine or be tested by certain sins. The deceased person’s own virtues, which he acquired while on earth, can help him pass this test.
From a spiritual point of view, this is not a tribute to the Lord, but a complete awareness and recognition of everything that tormented a person during his life and with which he was not able to fully cope. Only hope in Christ and His mercy can help the soul overcome this line.
Orthodox lives of saints contain many descriptions of ordeals. Their stories are extremely vivid and written in sufficient detail so that you can vividly imagine all the pictures described.
Icon of the Ordeal of Blessed Theodora
Especially detailed description can be found at St. Basil the New, in his life, which contains the story of Blessed Theodora about her ordeals. She mentions 20 trials of sins, including:
- a word - it can heal or kill, it is the beginning of the world, according to the Gospel of John. The sins that are contained in the word are not empty statements; they have the same sin as material, committed actions. There is no difference between cheating on your husband or saying it out loud while dreaming - the sin is the same. Such sins include rudeness, obscenity, idle talk, incitement, blasphemy;
- lie or deception - any untruth spoken by a person is a sin. This also includes perjury and perjury, which are serious sins, as well as dishonest trial and falsehood;
- gluttony is not only the pleasure of one’s belly, but also any indulgence of carnal passion: drunkenness, nicotine addiction or drug addiction;
- laziness, together with hack work and parasitism;
- theft - any act the consequence of which is the appropriation of someone else's property, this includes: theft, fraud, fraud, etc.;
- stinginess is not only greed, but also thoughtless acquisition of everything, i.e. hoarding. This category includes bribery, refusal of alms, as well as extortion and extortion;
- envy - visual theft and greed for someone else's;
- pride and anger - they destroy the soul;
- murder - both verbal and material, incitement to suicide and abortion;
- fortune telling - turning to grandmothers or psychics is a sin, it is written in Scripture;
- fornication is any lustful actions: viewing pornography, masturbation, erotic fantasies, etc.;
- adultery and the sins of Sodom.
Memorial Days
This includes not only the first three important days(third, ninth and fortieth), but any holidays and simple days when loved ones remember the deceased remember him.
Read about prayer for the dead:
The word “commemoration” means remembrance, i.e. memory. And first of all, this is prayer, and not just a thought or bitterness from separation from the dead.
Advice! Prayer is performed in order to ask the Creator for mercy for the deceased and to justify him, even if he did not deserve it himself. According to the canons of the Orthodox Church, the Lord can change His decision about the deceased if his loved ones actively pray and ask for him, doing alms and good deeds in his memory.
It is especially important to do this in the first month and the 40th day, when the soul appears before God. Throughout the entire 40 days, the magpie is read, a prayer every day, and in special days a funeral service is being ordered. Along with prayer, loved ones visit church and cemetery these days, give alms and distribute funeral food in memory of the deceased. Such memorial dates include subsequent anniversaries of death, as well as special church holidays commemoration of the dead.
The Holy Fathers also write that the actions and good deeds of the living can also cause a change in God's verdict on the deceased. The afterlife is full of secrets and mysteries; no one alive knows exactly anything about it. But everyone’s worldly path is an indicator that can indicate the place in which a person’s spirit will spend all eternity.
What are ordeals? Archpriest Vladimir Golovin
The Bible says that “the dust will return to the earth from where it came, and the spirit will return to the Creator, Who gave it”... Forgive the pun, but today only the dead do not try to find out or find out what happens to the soul when the person dies. So I was puzzled by this question.
Human death - what is it?
From a biological and physical point of view, the death of a person is a complete stop of all processes of his life. This is an irreversible phenomenon that none of us can ignore. At the moment of a person’s death, processes occur that are inversely proportional to his creation. The brain is irreversibly destroyed, losing its functionality. The emotional world is erased.
Where is it - the edge of existence?
The Bible says that "the dust will return to the ground from where it came, and the spirit will return to the Creator, Who gave it." In accordance with this, today some scientists have derived the formula In writing, it will have the following two options:
- dust of the earth + breath of life = living human soul;
- lifeless body + breath of the Creator = living personality.
From the formula it is clear that each of us is endowed with a body and a thinking mind. And as long as we breathe (we have the breath of God in us), we are living beings. Our soul is alive. Death is any cessation of life, it is non-existence. The human body becomes dust, the breath (spirit of life) returns back to the Creator - to God. When we leave, our soul slowly dies away, subsequently being reborn. A decaying corpse remains in the ground. More on this later.
What happens to the soul when a person dies?
Our soul is freed from the body over the course of several days, going through several stages of purification:
So, what happens to the soul when a person dies? From all of the above, we can conclude that she returns back to the Creator, and does not go to heaven or hell. However, please! But what about the Bible, which says that ours goes to either heaven or hell? More on this later.
Where do the souls of dead people go?
Today, scientists are trying to prove the existence of heaven and hell by collecting testimonies of people who returned “from the other world.” For those who don’t understand, I’m talking about survivors. Their testimonies coincide down to the smallest details! Non-believers say that they saw hell with their own eyes: they were surrounded by snakes, demons and a terrible stench. Those who have “visited” heaven talk about light, fragrance and lightness.
Where are the souls of dead people?
Clergy and doctors who interacted with such people noticed interesting feature: “those who visited” paradise returned to their physical body enlightened and calm, and those who “saw” hell tried for a very long time to recover from the nightmare. Experts summarized all the evidence and memories of “dead” people, after which they concluded that heaven and hell really exist, with the first being at the top and the second at the bottom. Everything is exactly the same as in the description the afterlife according to the Bible and the Koran. As we see, there is no consensus. And this is absolutely fair. Moreover, the Bible says that “the day of judgment will come, and the dead will rise from their graves.” Friends, we can only hope that the zombie apocalypse will not happen in our century!
It is important!
So, friends, we have looked at some aspects of a person. I tried to present as accurately as possible some of the opinions of modern scientists regarding this problem. Now let's get serious. Do you know what happens to the soul when a person dies? So I don’t know! To be honest, no one knows the answer to this question: neither I, nor you, friends, nor scientists... We can only speculate, based on certain unproven facts of clinical death of people. There is no direct evidence of life after death or death after death, so we can only operate with unproven arguments that science provides us. As they say, all the dead take a secret with them to the grave...
Death is a topic that evokes fear, sympathy, anxiety and pain in people. At the same time, everyone will have to face it sooner or later. If there is a hopelessly ill person with oncology in the house, after a stroke, paralyzed or an old man, relatives are interested in what the symptoms and harbingers of impending departure are, how the dying person behaves. It is important to know what happens when the end of life occurs, what to say to a loved one at death, how to help and what to do to ease his suffering. This will help you mentally and physically prepare for the death of a bedridden patient.
How people feel and behave before death
When a person dies, they feel inner grief. He experiences torment, his soul shrinks from the inside with the thought that the end is near. A dying person necessarily undergoes changes in the functioning of the body. This manifests itself emotionally and physically. Often the dying person becomes withdrawn and does not want to see anyone, becomes depressed, and loses interest in life.
It's hard for those close to you to watch this happen. You can clearly see how the loss of the soul by the body occurs, without the need to become a psychic. The symptoms of death are pronounced.
The patient sleeps a lot and refuses to eat. At the same time, global disruptions occur in the functioning of vital organs and systems.
Before death, a person may feel a sense of relief, especially for cancer patients. He seems to be getting better. Relatives notice a lift in mood and a smile on the face.
However, after some time the condition changes sharply for the worse. Soon the bedridden patient will experience relaxation of the body. The functions of the body's organs will sharply weaken. After this, the process of dying begins.
As for the care of older people (grandparents), the sensations before death will differ from those inherent in people suffering from, say, stage 4 cancer. Scientists say that the older a person is, the less afraid he is of dying, although the number of factors from which he can die increases. Some even want to hasten his death as quickly as possible, so that their loved ones do not see how he suffers. Before death, older people experience indifference, discomfort, and sometimes pain. Every 20 people feel uplifted.
How a person dies: signs
The approach of death is understood by clearly manifested signs. From them you can determine what death looks like, how death occurs.
Changing your sleep pattern
Many people are interested in what it means if old man sleeps a lot. In the last weeks of life, cancer patients and other seriously ill and dying old people spend a lot of time sleeping. It's not just that you feel very weak and tired. People lose strength very quickly, it is difficult for them to get out of sleep, in a state of which it becomes physically easier, pain and discomfort decrease.
Therefore, those who are about to die have an inhibited reaction upon awakening and in the waking state.
Weakness and drowsiness become the reason that everything metabolic processes slow down in the body. Against this background, difficulties arise in fulfilling physiological needs.
Weakness
Another sign signifying the onset of a person’s demise is weakness. It's about about severe exhaustion, accompanied by loss of body weight, chronic fatigue. The situation reaches the point where a person tries to lie down, loses the ability to stand on his feet, do basic things: roll over in bed, hold a spoon, and so on.
In cancer patients, this symptom is associated with intoxication of the body and the development of necrosis - the death of tissues affected by cancer cells.
The nose becomes sharper
Before imminent death, the nose becomes sharper - this is one of the secondary signs. It means that the death of a loved one is near. Among our ancestors, when the nose becomes elongated or pointed, it was said that the dying person put on a “mask of death.”
The patient, who has only a few hours left, has sunken eyes and temples. The ears become cold and flaccid, the tips turn forward.
Before death, the face is symmetrical, the skin acquires a grayish or yellowish tint. Changes are also noted on the forehead. The skin in this area becomes tight and rough.
Sense organs
Before death, a person loses the ability to hear. This occurs due to a sharp drop in pressure to minimum levels. Therefore, instead of the usual sounds, he hears squeaking, strong ringing, and extraneous sounds. The critical indicators at which pressure death occurs are considered to be 50 to 20 millimeters of mercury.
The organs of vision also undergo changes. A dying person hides his gaze from the light before his death. The organs of vision become very watery, and mucus accumulates in the corners. The whites turn red and the blood vessels in them turn white. Doctors often observe a situation where the right eye is different in size from the left. The organs of vision may become sunken.
At night, when a person is sleeping, there may be eyes open. If this happens constantly, then the organs of vision should be treated with moisturizing ointments or drops.
If the pupils are open during the night, the eyelids and skin around the eyes are pale yellowish. This shade goes to the forehead, nasolabial triangle(triangle of death), which indicates the imminent death of a person. Especially when these signs are combined with deafness and blindness.
A dying person has impaired tactile sensations. A few hours before death they practically disappear. A person does not feel the touch of loved ones, he can hear extraneous sounds, and visions often appear. According to relatives who watched a loved one die, hallucinations are most often associated with dead people. At the same time, a long dialogue takes place between them.
If a person sees deceased relatives, there is no need to think that he has gone crazy. Relatives should support him and not deny the connection with the other world. This is useless and may offend the dying person, who may find it easier to accept his own passing in this way.
Refusal to eat
If the patient stops eating and does not drink water, this period is the most difficult for relatives. He indicates that the end is near. The dying person's metabolism slows down. The reason is constant lying down. The body no longer receives the necessary substances for proper operation nutritional elements. He begins to consume his own resources - fat. That is why relatives note that the dying man has lost a lot of weight.
A person cannot live long without food. If the dying person cannot swallow, to deliver food to gastrointestinal tract Doctors prescribe the use of special probes. Glucose and a complex of vitamins are also prescribed.
If a person refuses food, he should not be forced. This way you can only do harm. It is enough to give him water in small portions. If he refuses it, then his family should at least lubricate his lips with it to prevent the formation of cracks.
“Robbing” himself
The sign means the desire of dying people to adjust their blankets, clothes, and straighten them. Some doctors and relatives say that a person moves his hands around himself, as if clearing the body and space of non-existent straws and threads. Some try to throw off the covers or use gestures to ask others to take off their clothes.
Our ancestors had a superstition: if a terminally ill person begins to “rob himself,” he will soon die. And before leaving, he tries to return to a state of purity, to free the body from everything superfluous and unnecessary.
Temporary improvement
If a person feels that the condition is improving, relatives should understand that it may indicate the approach of death. In medicine, this phenomenon is called “pre-mortem enhancement” or “neurochemical oscillation.” Numerous studies are still being conducted on this matter. Doctors still can't find out the real reason of this state. Therefore, many believe that otherworldly forces. The phenomenon is more often observed in cancer patients.
The body always fights the disease to the last, spending all its strength and resources on it. Before his death, he works at full capacity. At the same time, other functions weaken - motor, motor, etc.
When the body's strength is exhausted, its defenses are turned off. At the same time, functions are activated. The person becomes active, mobile, talkative.
In medical practice, there have been cases when a person who had been lying in bed for a long time wanted to get up and go outside, but after several hours death occurred.
Stool and urinary disorders
If a seriously ill person does not pass urine, this is due to the fact that the supply of water is reduced or completely absent, with disruptions in the filtration function of the kidneys. The violation causes the color to change and the amount of biological fluid to decrease. Urine takes on dark yellow, brown, and reddish shades. It contains a huge amount of toxins that poison the body.
At one point, the kidneys may stop functioning. And if you don’t provide the patient ambulance, then he will die in the near future.
A person near death is very weakened and is unable to independently control urination. Therefore, the way for him to go to the toilet and not burden once again relatives, it is advisable to purchase diapers or ducks.
At the end of life, it is difficult to empty the bladder, and problems with the intestines occur. Involuntary cleansing occurs due to the inability to go big on your own.
Sometimes people in whose home a seriously ill or elderly person dies believe that constipation is normal. However, the accumulation feces in the intestines and their hardening leads to abdominal pain, from which the person suffers even more. If he has not gone to the toilet for 2 days, in this case, contact the doctor to prescribe mild laxatives.
Strong medications with a laxative effect should not be given to the patient. This leads to another problem - loose stools and diarrhea.
Thermoregulation
Those who cared for seriously ill people focus on the fact that before they died they were sweating all the time. The fact is that a violation of thermoregulation is a sign of approaching death. The dying person's body temperature rises, then drops sharply. The limbs become cold, the skin becomes pale or yellow, and a rash appears in the form of cadaveric spots.
This process is easy to explain. The fact is that as brain cells approach death, neurons gradually die off. The turn comes to those departments that are responsible for thermoregulation in the body.
When high temperature The skin is treated with a damp towel. The doctor also prescribes medications that are effective in relieving fever.
These drugs will not only reduce body temperature, but also relieve pain.
If the patient cannot take medications due to the lack of a swallowing reflex, then it is better for relatives to purchase them in the form rectal suppositories or in injection form. This way the active ingredient will be absorbed into the blood much faster.
Brain fog and memory problems
There is a disturbance of reason due to the pathological functioning of some parts of the brain and other vital organs. Due to hypoxia, lack of nutrients, refusal of food and water, a person sees and imagines a different reality.
In this state, the dying person may say something, mutter, or be lost in space and time. This causes fear among relatives. However, you should not shout or disturb him. Failure in brain functions gradually leads to their fading, which causes clouding of the mind.
Confusion can be reduced by leaning over the patient and saying the name quietly. If he does not come to his senses for a long time, the doctor usually prescribes mild sedatives. Relatives of the dying person should prepare for the fact that if they are delirious, they may not realize that death is approaching.
Periods of “enlightenment” are often observed. Relatives understand that this is not an improvement in the condition, but a sign of approaching death.
If the patient is unconscious all the time, then the only thing his family can do is whisper goodbye to him. He will definitely hear them. Such passing in an unconscious state or in a dream is considered the most painless death.
Brain reactions: hallucinations
When dying, parts of the brain experience global changes. First of all, its cells begin to gradually die due to oxygen starvation - hypoxia. Often in the process of their death, a person experiences hallucinations - auditory, tactile, visual.
An interesting study was conducted by Californian scientists. The results were published in 1961. Surveillance was carried out on 35,500 dying people.
Most often, people's visions were associated with religious concepts and represented heaven and paradise. Others saw beautiful landscapes, rare fauna and flora. Still others talked to deceased relatives and asked them to open the gates of heaven.
The finding of the study was that the nature of the hallucinations was not related to:
- with a form of the disease;
- age;
- religious preferences;
- individual characteristics;
- education;
- level of intelligence.
Observations have shown that human dying goes through 3 stages:
- resistance- awareness of danger, fear, desire to fight for life;
- memories- fear disappears, pictures from the past flash in the subconscious;
- transcendence- that which is beyond the mind and senses is sometimes referred to as cosmic consciousness.
Venous spots
Venous, or cadaveric spots are areas of the body that are soaked in blood. They occur before a person’s death, during dying, and within a few hours after death. Externally, the areas resemble bruises - only large in area.
At first they have a grayish-yellowish tint, then become blue with a dark purple tint. After death (2-4 hours), the skin stops turning blue. The color turns gray again.
Venous spots form due to blockage of blood circulation. This causes the blood circulating in circulatory system, slows down and falls down under the influence of gravity. For this reason, the venous area of the bloodstream becomes overcrowded. The blood shows through the skin, as a result it becomes clear that parts of it have turned blue.
Edema
Appear on the lower and upper extremities. Usually accompanied by the formation of venous spots. Occur due to global impairment or cessation of kidney function. If a person has cancer, the urinary system cannot cope with toxins. Fluid accumulates in the feet and hands. This is a sign that means a person is dying.
Wheezing
The death rattle resembles a crackling, gurgling, blowing air from the lungs through a straw into the bottom of a mug filled with water. The symptom is intermittent, a bit like hiccups. On average, 16 hours pass from the onset of this phenomenon to death. Some patients die within 6 hours.
Wheezing is a sign of impaired swallowing function. The tongue stops pushing saliva, and it flows down the respiratory tract, ending up in the lungs. The death rattle is the lungs' attempt to breathe through saliva. It is worth noting that the dying person is not in pain at this moment.
To stop wheezing, your doctor will prescribe medications that reduce saliva production.
Predagonia
Predagonia is a protective reaction of vital body systems. Represents:
- malfunctions nervous system;
- confusion, slow reaction;
- drop in blood pressure;
- tachycardia alternating with bradycardia;
- deep and frequent breathing, alternating with rare and superficial;
- increased heart rate;
- the skin acquires different shades - first it turned pale, yellowed, then turned blue;
- the appearance of seizures, convulsions.
This condition often progresses slowly from several hours to one day.
Death throes
Starts with short breaths or one deep one. Next, the breathing rate increases. The lungs do not have time to ventilate. Gradually, breathing fades away. At the same time, the nervous system is completely blocked. At this stage, the pulse is present only in the carotid arteries. The person is in an unconscious state.
During agony, the dying person rapidly loses weight. This phenomenon ends with cardiac arrest and clinical death. The period of how long the agony lasts is from 3 minutes to half an hour.
How long to live: watching the dying
Predicting the exact time of death is almost impossible.
Signs indicating that a person has only a few minutes left until the end of his life:
- Changing lifestyle, daily routine, behavior. These are early signs. Occurs several months before death.
- Impaired perception. Occurs 3-4 weeks before death.
- 3-4 weeks before death, people eat poorly, lose their appetite, and are unable to swallow (several days before death).
- Brain dysfunction. Happens in 10 days.
- A person sleeps more and stays awake less. When death is already close, he remains asleep for days. Such people do not live long. They are given only a few days.
- In most cases, 60-72 hours before death, a person is delirious, his consciousness is confused, he does not reflect reality. Can talk to dead people.
Symptoms that indicate the process of a person’s dying.
- Shortly before death, black vomit is observed. In the last hours of life, the patient may urinate or have bowel movements. If the biological fluid turns black, this indicates bleeding and is often observed in cancer patients.
- The cornea becomes cloudy.
- The lower jaw droops, the mouth is open.
- The pulse is too slow or cannot be felt.
- The pressure becomes minimal.
- The temperature readings are jumping.
- Noisy breathing and wheezing appear.
- At the moment of death they contract pectoral muscles. Therefore, it may seem to relatives that the person continues to breathe.
- Cramps, convulsions, foam at the mouth.
- The limbs become cold, the legs and arms swell, the skin becomes covered with cadaverous spots.
Symptoms of clinical and biological death
Death occurs when there is an irreversible disruption of the vital systems of the body, followed by a cessation of the functioning of individual organs and tissues.
Most often, people die due to illness, injuries incompatible with life, drug addicts from an overdose of potent substances, alcoholics from toxic poisoning of the body. People die from old age much less often. Those who die from severe injuries or accidents experience quick death and do not experience the painful symptoms that sick people experience.
After a person passes away, an autopsy is required. This solves the question of how to find out the cause of death.
After the agony, clinical death occurs. The period for which the body lives after its onset is 4-6 minutes (until the cells of the cerebral cortex die), during which time it is possible to provide assistance to a person.
The main symptoms of clinical death.
- No signs of life.
- Convulsions. There is involuntary urination, ejaculation, and defecation due to severe muscle spasm.
- Agonal breathing. 15 seconds after death, the chest is still moving. The so-called agonal breathing continues. The deceased breathes quickly and shallowly, sometimes wheezes, and foams at the mouth.
- No pulse.
- There is no reaction of the pupils to light. It is the main sign of the onset of clinical death.
If resuscitation measures are not started within 4-6 minutes, the person experiences biological death, in which the body is considered dead.
Its characteristic symptoms are:
How to help
- It is believed that information about the allotted time should not be hidden. Perhaps the patient will want to see someone or visit old friends and colleagues.
- If a dying person finds it difficult to come to terms with the inevitability of the end, and he believes that he will get better, there is no need to convince him. It is important to support and encourage him, not to start a conversation about his latest wishes and parting words.
- If relatives cannot cope with emotions, then it is better to involve a psychotherapist or psychologist. Ordeal for a dying person - a manifestation of cowardice and grief of loved ones.
- Helping the dying consists of reducing the physical and moral suffering of the patient.
It is important to purchase in advance the medications and supporting agents necessary to alleviate the condition. First of all, this concerns painkillers for cancer patients. Often, obtaining a prescription for narcotic substances for a patient is not an easy task.
- It is recommended to involve palliative services to smooth out the symptoms of diseases.
- Perhaps the dying person will want to talk to the priest from the church so that he can forgive his sins.
- If a person who is dying wants to discuss death, it is imperative to keep the conversation going. The awareness of the approach of one's death is a difficult feeling. There is no need to distract the patient, otherwise he will withdraw into himself, plunge into loneliness and fears.
- If the patient insists on limiting contacts, there is no need to refuse him.
- If the dying person is ready and willing, you can discuss the funeral with him or draw up a will. It is advisable to offer to write a letter to someone with whom he would like to say goodbye. Let him indicate parting words or advice in the news.
- Recommended performance cherished desire. Dying people ask to give medicines, clothes, books, records and other things to people in need or loved ones.
- It is important to remember to give more time to a person who is dying. Do not pay attention to the clouding of his mind, that he begins to talk, sometimes drives away loved ones. Perhaps in the latter case, he wants to be alone with himself or does not want to show his torment and pain.
- There is no need to tell the dying person that you will grieve, miss him, or cannot imagine life without him. But if you plan to plant a tree in his memory, you can inform the person about it.
What do they say in such a situation?
When communicating with a dying person, you do not need to take the leading role in the conversation. It is better to ask for advice and guidance. Don’t be shy to ask, thank, remember the best moments, how good it was, talk about love, that this is not the end, and everyone will meet in better world. Be sure to say that he is forgiven for everything.
Tactile contact is important. The patient should feel that he is not alone when death approaches.
Condolences are expressed to the relatives of the deceased, but it is advisable to avoid pretentious phrases. It’s better to say sincerely and simply how difficult the loss is, to call best qualities person. It is recommended to indicate your participation, offer assistance in organizing the funeral, and moral support.
How to prepare for death
It is impossible to be prepared for the loss of a loved one. However, some preparations will help ease the difficult period.
- Funeral planning. It is advisable to think about which church to hold the funeral service, which cemetery to bury or where to cremate, where to invite people to the wake.
- If a person is a believer, it is recommended to talk with the priest, invite him to the dying person, and find out about actions after the death of a loved one.
- The dying person does not need to communicate his assumptions about the funeral unless he asks about it. Otherwise, it may look like a desire to speed up your death.
- Be prepared for a difficult emotional period, do not suppress feelings, give yourself the right to grieve. Take sedatives, visit a psychotherapist.
Do not blame anyone for the death of a loved one, accept and come to terms with it. It is important to remember that prolonged grief, grief and self-torment will not give the soul peace and will pull it back to the earth.