What Physically Happens When You Die?

It’s normal to wonder what will happen when you die. From a physical standpoint, death is when the body's vital functions stop, including breathing (respiration), heartbeats, and, brain activity.

The actual moment of death is part of the process of dying during which all these functions shut down. Sometimes, it happens gradually and sometimes it happens very quickly.

After death, the body starts to undergo changes as its temperature drops. The skin color and texture look and feel different, and the muscles relax, stiffen, and then relax again.

This article will explain the physical timeline of dying, from the moment a person dies through the after-death (post-mortem) stages.

What Happens at the Moment of Death?

By definition, death is when blood (circulatory) and breathing (respiratory) stop and cannot be brought back, or brain death (when the brain/brain stem stops working) occurs.

The determination of death must be made according to accepted medical standards.

The moment of death is not necessarily painful. While people with certain medical conditions may feel pain at the end of life, others die without any pain. 

Often, people with terminal conditions like cancer get pain medication so they are comfortable during the dying process. 

The moment of death is often thought of as the moment when the heartbeat and breathing stop. However, research is showing that death may not be that immediate. 

The brain is thought to keep “working” for 10 minutes or so after death, meaning that a person’s mind may have some kind of awareness of dying.

In a hospital, there are a few criteria that healthcare providers use to declare death including:

• No pulse 
• No breathing
• No reflexes
• No reaction from pupils to bright light 

In a setting like an ER or ambulance, paramedics look for the five signs of irreversible death to determine if resuscitation, or revival, would be possible or not. 

What Happens One Hour After Death?

At the moment of death, all of the muscles in the body relax (primary flaccidity). The eyelids lose their tension, the pupils dilate, the jaw may fall open, and the joints and limbs are flexible.

With the loss of tension in the muscles, the skin will sag, which can cause prominent joints and bones in the body, such as the jaw or hips, to stick out more. 

As muscles relax, sphincters release and allow urine and feces to pass.

Within minutes of the heart stopping, the body will get pale as the blood drains from the smaller veins in the skin (pallor mortis). This process can be more visible in people with light skin compared to darker skin.

The body starts to cool from its normal temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit until it reaches the air temperature around it. 

The “death chill” (algor mortis) is when the body temperature falls at a steady rate of 1.5 degrees F per hour.

The expected decrease in body temperature during algor mortis can help forensic scientists get the approximate time of death, assuming the body has not completely cooled or been exposed to extreme environmental temperatures.

What Happens 2 to 6 Hours After Death?

Since the heart no longer pumps blood, gravity begins to pull it to the areas of the body closest to the ground (pooling), a process called livor mortis.

If the body is not disturbed for several hours, the parts of the body that are nearest the ground can develop a reddish-purple discoloration that looks like a bruise. It’s caused by the accumulation of blood. Embalmers sometimes call it the "postmortem stain."

From 2 to 6 hours after death, chemical changes in the body's cells cause all muscles to stiffen (rigor mortis). The first muscles affected are the eyelids, jaw, and neck.

Over the next several hours, rigor mortis spreads to the face and down the chest, abdomen, arms, and legs until it finally reaches the fingers and toes.

Interestingly, the old custom of placing coins on the eyelids of the deceased might have originated from the desire to keep the eyes shut, since rigor mortis affects them first.

When infants and young children die, it is not unusual for their bodies to not display rigor mortis, possibly because of their smaller muscle mass.

What Happens 7 to 12 Hours After Death?

Maximum muscle stiffness from rigor mortis in the body occurs after about 12 hours. However, this timeline will be affected by a person's age, physical condition, sex, air temperature, and other factors.

At this point, the deceased's limbs are hard to move. The knees and elbows will be slightly flexed, and the fingers and toes can look unusually crooked.

What Happens 12 Hours After Death?

After reaching a state of maximum rigor mortis, the muscles start to loosen because of the continued chemical changes in the cells and internal tissue decay.

The process (secondary flaccidity) takes place over one to three days and is affected by external conditions such as temperature (for example, cold slows the process).

During secondary flaccidity, the skin shrinks and creates the illusion that the deceased’s hair and nails are growing. Rigor mortis starts to disappear going in the opposite direction—from the fingers and toes to the face—over 48 hours.

Once secondary flaccidity is done, the body's muscles will relax again.

Summary

The process of dying is natural and follows several steps. You might be curious about what will happen to your body after you die or you might prefer not to think about it. Whether you want to learn about what physically happens to the body after death is up to you.

Here is a brief summary of the changes that happen in the body in the hours and days after death:

• One hour: Relaxation of muscles (primary flaccidity) starts right away, followed by the skin becoming pale
• Two to six hours: Muscles begin to stiffen (rigor mortis)
• Seven to 12 hours: Muscle stiffness peaks (rigor mortis is complete)
• 12 hours: The muscles start to relax again (secondary flaccidity) and the process will take 1 to 3 days