Have you ever wondered what happens to your body after you die? Well, yeah, me neither because isn’t the world CHILLING ENOUGH without considering what happens when we’re no longer in it?!
However, while you may be aware that we slowly decompose, you may not know that our bodies actually sort of... eat themselves after we die. A feast for bacteria, if you will.
Sorry if you were eating.
How the body eats itself after death
So, right after death, the body starts to go through pallor mortis. This causes the body to pale because blood has stopped moving through capillaries, the smallest of our blood vessels.
Then comes the feast.
In a process called ‘Autolysis’, the body begins decomposition. According to Britannica: “Autolysis, which begins the process of decomposition, is also called “self-digestion”: enzymes begin to digest the membranes of oxygen-deprived cells. Damaged blood cells pour out of their broken vessels in a rush of movement.”
The feasting doesn’t end there, though.
Of course, within our bodies, we have multiple bacterias. While we’re alive, these are concentrated in the gut but our immune system keeps them away from our other organs. Once we pass, though, these are free to feed on the whole body.
They start with intestines and nearby tissue before moving on through capillaries, making their way to the heart and brain.
One study found that it takes bacteria 58 hours to reach the liver, spleen, heart, and brain.
How embalming slows the decomposition process
According to Life Science: “To delay decay, embalmers can drain the blood and other fluids from a corpse and replace it with embalming fluids they inject into the veins. These chemicals, which act as preservatives, stop the bacterial activity that breaks down the body.”
Well, now that we know all of that, I’m off to cleanse my brain with photos of puppies and kittens.