Why is death scary

Researchers have found death can determine our prejudices , whether we give to charity or wear sun cream , our desire to be famous , what type of leader we vote for , how we name our children and even how we feel about breastfeeding. And, of course, it terrifies us. Death anxiety appears to be at the core of several mental health disorders, including health anxiety, panic disorder and depressive disorders. A ComRes survey from found that eight in ten Brits are uncomfortable talking about death, and only a third have written a will.

Researchers analysed the writing of regular bloggers with either terminal cancer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS who all died over the course of the study, and compared it to blog posts written by a group of participants who were told to imagine they had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and only had only a few months to live.

They looked for general feelings of positivity and negativity, and words describing positive and negative emotions including happiness, fear and terror. Blog posts from the terminally ill were found to have considerably more positive words and fewer negative ones than those imagining they were dying — and their use of positive language increased as they got close to death.

The researchers also compared the last words and poetry of inmates on death row with a group of people tasked with imagining they were about to face execution. Again, there were fewer negative words from the prisoners. Overall, those facing death focused more on what makes life meaningful, including family and religion.

Combined, they can cement the belief the NDE provided a glimpse of a world we move to when our physical body dies another realm exists. There is nobody judging your deeds when you die. Nobody, that is, except yourself. Whether they are verifiably real occurrences that can be scientifically quantified or not is, in many ways, irrelevant.

What is significant is that people who have had NDEs universally report a complete loss of the most existential of human fears — something even the most advanced psychotherapies cannot achieve. They want to live and fulfil their destiny.

But when death finally calls, they will not be afraid. And that is quite extraordinary. The Conversation is currently running a series on Death and Dying. Post any questions about near-death experiences in the comments below. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth. But the study suggests that life after death experiences might not all involve the soothing sensation of becoming engulfed in white light so often associated with "near death.

While certain experiences are stereotypically associated with such apparent life after death periods — such as perceiving oneself heading toward a bright light — 46 percent of the patients who said they had awareness after death described phenomena not generally associated with "near death.

Some patients said that they felt intense fear and paranoia, as if they were being persecuted by someone or something. The study, led by researchers at the University Southampton in the U. In the life after death study, 39 percent of the subjects who were successfully resuscitated after their hearts has stopped functioning, reported at least some level of awareness during the time when their brains should have been completely shut down.

According to Parnia , the brain will shut down within 30 seconds of when the heart stops pumping — but patients in the study who should have been conscious of nothing at all, actually had perceptions and awareness, some of them corresponding to actual, recorded events in the real world.