Doctors have revealed that the first sense people lose when they are hours from death is often hunger. The process of dying is still a widely misunderstood concept, as our knowledge mainly comes from observations by family,
Friends and medical staff - seldom the individuals who are actually in the throes of passing away. Individuals approaching death are frequently too weak or unresponsive to convey their experiences. Despite advancements in medicine prolonging life and changing the nature of mortality, understanding around dying remains limited, according to The Mirror . In previous times, death was often sudden. Nowadays, with medical advancement, it is common for people to slowly deteriorate due to chronic illnesses over stretches of time. The last few days before death are characterised by a phase known as "active dying", according to James Hallenbeck, an expert on end-of-life care at Stanford University. During this stage, the loss of senses and desires follow a specific sequence, reports Birmingham Live . He shared insight in his book aimed at physicians, Palliative Care Perspectives: "First hunger and then thirst are lost. Speech is lost next, followed by vision. The last senses to go are usually hearing and touch." In addition to this, some believe that individuals near death experience visions such as seeing a bright light. David Hovda from the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center shed light on this topic by suggesting that the brain "starts to sacrifice areas which are less critical to survival", as documented by The Atlantic . "As the brain begins to change and start to die, different parts become excited, and one of the parts that becomes excited is the visual system - and so that's where people begin to see light," he explained. This surge in sensory perception seems to support scientific understanding of how our brains respond when we're on the brink of death. Jimo Borjigin, a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan, observed that just before animals die, there's a sudden spike in brain chemicals. While it's known that brain cells continue functioning post-mortem, this was a unique discovery - the cells were producing new chemicals in large quantities. Borjigin noted that heart attack survivors often recount an "amazing experience in their brain" where they witness lights and everything appears "realer than real", which she believes is due to this chemical release. In the last hours, patients will have stopped eating and drinking, and lost sight, before closing their eyes and seeming to sleep. Hallenbeck said: "From this point on... we can only guess what is actually happening. My feeling is that this is not a coma, a state of unconsciousness, as many families and doctors think, but something like a dream state." The exact moment it happens is hard to pinpoint. "It's like a storm coming in," he continued. "The waves started coming up. But you can never say, well, when did the waves start coming up? The waves get higher and higher, and eventually, they carry the person out to sea."