10 Things That Happen To Your Body After You Die

4. Decomposition #1: Self-Digestion

Right, this has all been rather lovely so far, but even embalmed bodies decay eventually, particularly if your death happens to be a little more al fresco.

Decomposition sets in within minutes of death. After blood stops flowing through the body, oxygen-deprived cells become highly acidic. Enzymes begin to digest cell membranes and everything begins to spill out, causing the discolouration we discussed earlier.

Rigor mortis takes place because the nucleic acid in the cells break down and proteins in the muscle fibres become locked without a continuous energy source. Once the muscles begin to degrade more extensively, however, the rigor mortis goes away and the body becomes supple again.

The trillions of bacteria that live in the human body throughout life, are released throughout the body when the cell membranes begin to degrade and start their own process of decomposition.