The Decomposition Of The Body At Death.

[♥ Lily ♥]

11 Facts About The Decomposition Rates Of A Body Buried In A Casket


While it may be morbid, it's normal to wonder what happens to your body after death. The stages of decay in the human body occur right away. What happens when a body decomposes in a casket is a long, complex process.

Decomposition begins as soon as you die, and continues until your body becomes fossilised. Decomposition in a casket can slow things down, stretching out the process for decades. Learning the facts of the matter will leave you feeling humbled. It's a reminder that, however important we are in life, we all end up as dust and bones in the end.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Your Body Starts Digesting Itself Immediately



Decomposition begins immediately after death, in a stage known as autolysis, or self-digestion. During this process, as the name implies, the body begins digesting itself. As cells are deprived of oxygen, they begin to breakdown and release membranes that are then digested by enzymes. Typically, this begins in the liver and brain due to the high water and enzyme content in these areas.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Rigor Mortis Sets In After Two To Six Hours



As your body eats itself, your internal temperature drops as blood stops flowing. This causes blood to coagulate, stiffening the arteries, veins, and capillaries. This leads to the well-known phenomenon of rigor mortis, in which corpses become stiff and immobile. This usually occurs two to six hours after death.

[♥ Lily ♥]

You Start Changing Colors In 24 Hours



Rigor mortis lasts about 24 hours. After it passes, blood settles in the area of the body that was closest to the ground at the time of death. The area where blood settles develops a red-brown stain. For example, if you died after falling down headfirst, you would get a blotchy brown stain on your face. Other body parts begin to take on a bluish tinge within eight to 10 hours of death.

[♥ Lily ♥]

You Start To Smell After Three Days



Ever wonder when a corpse starts to smell? A bad odour begins two to three days after death, in a process known as putrefaction. It's caused by micro-organisms in your intestines. These organisms do not die immediately along with you. Instead, after death they being eating through the intestines.

After a few days, micro-organisms spread across your thighs and stomach. This eventually causes a foul odour, similar to the scent of rotten eggs and methane. Other side effects include a protruding tongue, a greenish patch on the belly, and fluid oozing from the mouth and nostrils.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Your Fingernails And Hair Don’t Grow, But They Do Start To Look Bigger



Contrary to popular belief, your fingernails and hair do not continue to grow after death. They only appear to do so, as when the skin dries out, hair and fingernails can look more prominent by comparison. Hair, while it may appear longer, actually starts falling out fairly quickly.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Embalming Stalls, But Does Not Prevent, Decay



Typically, by the time your body is putrefying, someone will have stepped in to take you to a funeral home. If you get embalmed, this can slow the decomposition process, but it does not prevent decay. A funeral director will first bathe your body. If you are still in rigor mortis, they will massage your corpse to loosen it up.

Chemicals used in the embalming process help slow putrefaction, by stopping the cellular activity that leads to decomposition. Funeral directors use machinery to drain the blood from your arteries, and replace the vessels with embalming fluids. Funeral directors will also drain the gas from your body, and may plug certain orifices with cotton to prevent leakage.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Decomposition Rates Vary By Burial Type



By the time you’re buried, you are already significantly decomposed. However, the length of decomposition varies greatly after burial. This is because environmental conditions affect the process.

When buried naturally (with no coffin or embalming), decomposition takes eight to 12 years. Adding a coffin and/or embalming fluid can tack on additional years to the process, depending on the type of coffin. The quickest route to decomposition is a burial at sea. Underwater, corpses decompose four times faster.

[♥ Lily ♥]

After Eight Days, You Look Much Less Human



Generally speaking, eight to 10 days after death you begin to look unrecognisable. Blood continues to decompose, and the organs and abdomen accumulate more gas. Your body will begin to turn a deep reddish color. After a few more weeks pass, your teeth and nails fall out as well.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Decomposition Begins To Slow After 10 Days



Depending on conditions, your body transitions into the post-decay process about 10 to 24 days after death. At this point, most flesh will have been stripped from the bones through natural chemical reactions. The smell will have subsided, but there may be a mild, cheese-like odour. Decomposition slows, as there's less to decompose. Besides fleshier areas like the abdomen, you are mostly skeletal at this point.