Chloe Rowland
The topic of our inevitable visit from the Grim Reaper tends to be one of those out of sight, out of mind things, but a confronting simulation showing the reality of what happens to our bodies after we draw our final breath has left people reaching for the nearest sick bucket.
Given the fact we have biohackers attempting to reverse their biological ages and 'live forever' and emerging tech such as cryogenic freezing aiming to wake up the dead in years to come, our mortality can be something many of us don't like to truly face, and can even be a source of intense fear for some.
Others, however, aren't too bothered about the fact we're all going to die someday or may take comfort in the idea of an afterlife or some kind of higher being - but one thing that's not up for debate is the fact that when we do pass away, our bodies go through the same natural process of decomposition.
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There are five key stages of the body's natural breakdown after death, and they've all been illustrated in an 'unsettling' simulation courtesy of Zack D. Films on YouTube.
Walking us through the day after death until several years after, the simulation uses a body in a coffin to explain the five stages of decomposition, and it's left some viewers feeling pretty existential and others just simply a bit grossed out.
"It’s sad to think that no matter how much someone takes care of their skin their whole life, it will eventually decay. Nothing lasts forever," one person wrote under the video, while another branded it as the reason some people are 'afraid to die'.
Someone else called the simulation 'straight up gross', while another saw the lighter side, joking that 'Bro gave us a sneak peek'.
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So, to kick start your week, let's break down exactly what happens after we die. Of course, it goes without saying that this contains graphic descriptions.
"The day after you die, most of your blood settles in the parts of your body closest to the ground, causing purple and red patches to appear on the skin," the video begins.
This is called the autolysis stage of decomposition, which starts immediately after death. During this stage, the body's enzymes also break down tissues, cooling down the body (known as algor mortis).
The muscles also stiffen - which you might recognise as 'rigor mortis' - and the skin begins to discolour.
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Around three to five days after death, the bloat stage begins, triggered by all of the bacterial and enzyme activity involved in the autolysis stage.
Bloat is set off by a buildup of those gases in the body, particularly around the stomach area, causing the body to swell.
This is when the body will have a noticeable physical change in appearance and can appear green-like, and in some cases, fluids can leak out.
At this point, we're around five to 11 days post-mortem.
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The body's tissues and internal organs start breaking down and liquifying, with the simulation explaining: "All of the organs and soft tissue, including your eyes, liquify."
Biohazard and cleanup company EXIT further explains that when 'all of the body’s soft tissue decomposes, hair, bones, cartilage, and other byproducts of decay remain'.
It's at this point the body 'loses the most mass' and the decomposition process can sometimes cause the skin to 'wrinkle or split as the internal liquids escape'.
By days 10 to 25, the body is in advanced decay, the penultimate stage of decomposition in which most of the body's mass has now been broken down and the rate of decomposition starts to slow.
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Soft tissues are continuing to break down and at this point, a corpse may start to experience 'skin slippage' which really is what it sounds like - the skin falling off the bones.
This process marks the end of active decay and can occur anywhere between weeks to years after someone has passed away.
It's pretty self-explanatory but skeletonisation is when all that's left of the body is the bones, with the nails and teeth having now fallen out as a result of soft tissue breaking down.
The environment can have a massive impact on how quickly bones weather.
"Hot, dry conditions can speed up weathering, while cool, wet conditions can slow the process. Repeated wet and dry cycles can cause delamination and surface cracking as the skeletal remains and layers of bone break down, which increases the effects of weathering," explains the Trauma Services blog.
So, there you have it - as that commenter put it, a 'sneak peek' into the days and weeks after death.
I don't know about you but I think I'm going to go stare at a wall now...