A retired end of life doctor has explained what really happens when we die.
Dr Kathryn Mannix specialises in palliative and end of life care. She has described the transition to death as a "process" mirroring birth.
Her 30 years spent working in the profession inspired her to write books 'With the End in Mind' and 'Listen', and believes when the time comes it is "probably not as bad as you're expecting".
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Dr Mannix is keen to break down the taboo around the subject and encourage people to talk about dying more, Mirror UK reports.
She said the whole journey is made much easier for the person who is coming to the end of their life and their family if everything is more upfront - including the type of language chosen.
Speaking to a short film for the BBC, she said: “In my humble opinion, dying is probably not as bad as you’re expecting.
“We’ve lost the rich wisdom of normal human dying and it’s time for us to talk about dying and reclaim the wisdom.
“Dying, like giving birth, really is just a process. Gradually people become more tired, more weary.
"As time goes by people sleep more and they’re awake less.”
Dr Mannix has seen in her own patients how they can slip in and out consciousness as they get closer to the end and will often wake up and say they've had a "good sleep".
Dr Mannix said it's clear then that it generally "doesn't feel frightening" in such scenarios and is often quite relaxing for the patient.
What is described as the "death rattle" she said is actually a sign someone is "deeply relaxed" and "so deeply unconscious they are not feeling that tickle of saliva as their air bubbles in and out".
"At the very end of somebody’s life there will be a period of shallow breathing and then one out breath that just isn’t followed by another in breath," she said.
"Sometimes it’s so gentle that families don’t even notice that it’s happened."
She continued: "Normal human dying is just a really gentle process, something we can recognise, something we can prepare for, something we can manage.
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