Many people around the world have at some point wondered what it would feel like to die.
Some who have had a near-death experience have revealed what it was like to come close to death, or even described their experience of being revived, following an accident or illness.
And doctors have now given an insight into the odd changes our bodies go through that can be both comforting or worrisome, the Mirror reports.
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One Reddit user said in a forum discussing the subject that their near-death experience was "pure, perfect, uninterrupted sleep, no dreams". Another said they were "standing in front of a giant wall of light".
Documented experiences have come close, but doctors also have a good idea of what we may feel like because of the symptoms they regularly see in dying patients.
So what actually happens when we die?
The body reacts
People who edge towards the great beyond a little more slowly will experience symptoms of their bodies gradually shutting down. This will develop in a number of ways.
For one thing, our hearts will begin to beat more slowly, and as the blood being pumped around our body slows, our blood pressure begins to fall.
As that happens, some people could feel confused or odd, but others may well be quietly at peace.
Shallow breathing
One of the most noticeable signs that a patient is dying is a change in breathing.
Medical professionals can easily spot the signs that someone is close to death's door, as patients may start to breathe more slowly and more shallowly.
It could also be quite loud as people lose the sense of their mouth and throat. Eventually, breathing comes to a halt and the heart, now without oxygen, eventually stops.
Sleep
As people near the end, they may begin to drift in and out of consciousness. For some people who have seen their loved ones in pain because of an illness, this peaceful sleep can be a comfort to them.
Some have reported drifting in and out seemingly without noticing.
Palliative medicine specialist Dr Kathryn Mannix wrote in Science Focus: "There may be periods of restlessness or moments of confusion, or just gradually deepening unconsciousness...
"Unconscious people’s breathing follows automatic patterns generated by the respiratory centre in the brain stem. Because they’re unaware of their mouth and throat, dying people may breathe heavily, noisily or through saliva in the back of their throat, yet without apparent distress."
On a Reddit forum discussing what near-death experiences felt like, one person said that it was "really a peaceful feeling more than anything".
They said: "I was getting an angiogram done, wide awake watching the screen and talking to the doctor. Alarms started to go off and everyone became panicked.
"My world became soft and foggy and everything faded to black. Next thing I remember was opening my eyes and hearing a Dr say 'we got him back'."
Brain activity
A lot of research points towards people still being able to hear when they die.
Researchers looking at brain activity think that some form of awareness could be possible in a person's final moments.
While they might be able to hear, they may not be able to necessarily make sense of what is going on, but it appears on many cases that people are registering something.
Study lead author Elizabeth Blundon, who looked into electrical activity in the brains of hospice patients when they became unresponsive, said: "In the last hours before an expected natural death, many people enter a period of unresponsiveness.
"Our data shows that a dying brain can respond to sound, even in an unconscious state, up to the last hours of life."
Mannix added: "We have no proven way to investigate what people experience during dying. Recent research shows that, even close to death, the unconscious brain responds to noises in the room. We don’t know how much sense music or voices make to a dying person, however."
The great beyond
Lots of people have described an experience of feeling like they are being taken out of their body while dying.
Some said they felt like they were going towards some sort of light, but others said that everything went black.
One person on the Reddit forum even said they were able to describe what was happening in the room at the time.
They said: "When I coded, I don't remember a sensation of floating, but I was able to recall things in detail that happened while I was 'dead' on the other side of the room. No white lights, no dead relatives, nobody telling me to go back, but I was definitely able to see things that were in no way visible from where my body was.
"I remember speaking and being angry because nobody would answer me. My mother told me 'you didn't say anything, you were dead'."
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