These 10 Body Functions Continue Working After Death
Even after someone passes away, some basic body functions can persist for a while. It might sound surprising, but it’s true. Certain bodily processes keep going for minutes, hours, or even days after death. If you’re sensitive to this topic, you might want to skip reading further!
1 Hair and Nail Growth
This might seem strange, but it’s more of a technical thing than actual growth. After a person passes away, the skin dries out and shrinks, which makes the hair and nails look longer. When we measure the length of hair and nails, we start from where they begin at the skin, not just from the tips. So, even though they’re not really growing, they appear longer after death.
2 Brain Activity (with drugs)
With modern technology, it’s not always clear when someone has passed away. Sometimes, the brain might have stopped working, but the heart is still beating. Even if a person stops breathing and their heart stops for a short time, doctors might consider them dead, especially if they were already very sick. But during those moments, the brain cells are still alive and trying hard to get oxygen and nutrients to survive. They can damage themselves in the process, even if the heart starts beating again later. With certain medications, doctors can sometimes keep the brain alive for a few days, giving them a chance to save the person’s life, but it’s not always successful.
3 Skin cell growth
When blood stops flowing, the brain dies quickly, usually within minutes. But not all cells need constant blood flow to survive. Skin cells, for instance, are used to getting what they need from the body’s outer layers and can survive for days through a process called osmosis.
4 Peeing
For most of us, peeing is something we control, unless something really funny happens. Not peeing, on the other hand, isn’t something we decide. There’s a part of the brain that handles this job, along with regulating breathing and heartbeat. That’s why when people drink too much alcohol, they might pee involuntarily because the part of the brain that keeps the bladder closed gets turned off. If someone drinks too much alcohol, it can be dangerous because the part of the brain that controls the heart and breathing can also shut down. After death, muscles stiffen in rigor mortis, but this happens hours later. Then the muscles relax, and urination can occur.
5 Pooing
In stressful situations, the body might release waste, and if you’re lucky, it won’t happen in front of others or on camera. When the body relaxes certain muscles, things just happen naturally. Even after death, gas produced in the body can cause this to occur, sometimes hours later. So, since even babies poop in the womb, it seems like pooping might be one of the first and last things we do in life!
6 Digestion
When we die, our bodies don’t just stop. We have helpful bacteria in our gut that keep working, even after we’re gone. These bacteria help with digestion and other important tasks. They keep going whether we’re alive or not. Some of them even produce gas that helps move things along in our intestines.
7 Erections and Ejaculations
When the heart stops, blood doesn’t move around the body anymore, so it collects in the lowest parts. If someone dies face down or standing up, blood will gather in those areas. Even though muscles relax after death, it doesn’t last forever. Certain muscle cells need calcium ions to work properly. After death, these cells don’t use enough energy to push the calcium ions out, so the muscles contract. This causes rigor mortis, which might even lead to ejaculation.
8 Muscle movement
Even after the brain has stopped working, some parts of the nervous system might still be active. Nurses have observed reflex actions in patients after they’ve died. This happens because the nerves send signals to the spinal cord instead of the brain.
9 Vocalization
When a body decays, bacteria get to work, producing gas that builds up. Some of this gas can escape through the windpipe. Rigor mortis, which stiffens muscles, including those around the vocal cords, can make eerie sounds come from dead bodies. You might hear groans, moans, and squeaks. It’s up to you whether you want to stick around to check if they’re really dead or run away.
10 Giving birth
Back in the day, when people died a lot, sometimes pregnant women would pass away too. And if it was too cold for a proper burial, something eerie could happen called ‘coffin birth.’ As the body softened and gas built up, it could push out the fetus. These were rare events that caused a lot of talk. It might sound strange, but it did happen. Just one more reason to be grateful for the comforts of the modern world!
