There’s no way to cheat death, but science shows there are better ways to go than others.
Though dying in your sleep has long been considered the easiest way out, it’s not always as peaceful as it seems.
Death during sleep could be from a variety of causes, including heart failure, sleep apnea, diabetes, and respiratory issues.
While many of these conditions cause patients to slowly drift off, others may leave the gasping for breath, clutching their chest, or choking in their final moments.
Surprisingly, one of the most painless ways to go might also be one of the most brutal: some experts think imploding would happen so quick you wouldn’t know.
And do you remember how you felt as you drifted off under anesthesia the last time you had surgery? Probably not – but that’s exactly the point. Overdosing on sedatives has also been touted as one of the more peaceful methods.
Implosion
Pictured above is the Titan submersible that imploded in 2023. Experts believe the passengers all died peacefully and had no idea what was going to happen
It’s an unlikely cause of death, but experts believe a violent implosion would kill in milliseconds.
This was believed to have been the case of the five tragic passengers aboard the Titan submersible in 2023, which imploded during a deep-sea mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic.
During an implosion, an object collapses in on itself in just a matter of milliseconds.
Dr Dale Molé, the former director of undersea medicine and radiation health for the US Navy, told DailyMail.com at the time that an implosion ‘is when the wave of pressure is inward, whereas an explosion is when the pressure wave or the shock wave goes out from whatever the source of that is.’
He compared an explosion to blowing up a balloon too much – the balloon will eventually pop when there is too much pressure.
In an implosion, the opposite occurs, when there is more outward pressure than the container can understand, then the insides collapse.
Dr Molé said the Titan passengers’ deaths would have been quick and painless, dying almost instantly by the extraordinary forces exerted by the ocean at depth.
He said: ‘It would have been so sudden, that they wouldn’t even have known that there was a problem, or what happened to them.
The USS Thresher, which imploded in 1963, is pictured above. The 129 sailors and civilians on board were believed to have died immediately
‘It’s like being here one minute, and then the switch is turned off. You’re alive one millisecond, and the next millisecond you’re dead.’
Along with the Titan disaster, a similar catastrophe occurred in 1963 when the USS Thresher, a nuclear-powered submarine, most likely imploded when it exceeded ‘test depth’ and suffered a series of other failures.
The 129 sailors and civilians on board were believed to have died immediately.
It’s unclear how many Americans have died by implosion.
Anesthesia
While the odds dying while under anesthesia are low, it would be painless (stock image)
Anesthesia is generally considered safe, helping nearly 40million Americans stay asleep during lifesaving operations.
But in rare cases, the medicine can be deadly.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists suggests anywhere from one in 100,000 to one in 200,000 patients die from anesthesia every year.
For healthy patients receiving routine procedures like colonoscopies and hip replacement, that risk is as low as one in 1million.
However, this rate rises slightly from one in 100,000 for people with chronic health issues.
Anesthesia can cause the airway muscles to relax, which may block the airway and cause breathing issues.
It may also result in low oxygen levels and excess carbon dioxide, which leads to brain damage.
Low blood pressure and heart rate may also occur, which can cause heart attacks or strokes in patients with underlying conditions.
However, in the rare instance of anesthesia-related death, the medicine would keep patients from feeling anything or being aware of the complications. This would make death painless.
Sudden cardiac arrest
Sudden cardiac arrest usually kills in four to six minutes and is painless once patients fall unconscious (stock image)
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Sudden cardiac arrest is one of the most common causes of deaths, killing 356,000 Americans every year. This is roughly 1,000 people every day.
Of those, about nine in 10 don’t survive.
Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when heart activity stops without warning due to a disruption in the heart’s natural rhythm.
This is different from a heart attack, which is caused by a clogged artery blocking blood flow to the heart.
Cardiac arrest kills in four to six minutes, while a heart attack can last several hours.
Symptoms such as chest pain, palpitations, light-headedness and weakness start suddenly and only occur for a few minutes before patients faint.
Once patients go unconscious, cardiac arrest is painless.
The CDC estimates 60 percent of cardiac arrest patients are men, and a 2016 study found that while one in nine men will suffer a cardiac arrest before age 70, only one in 30 women will have one.
Heart conditions like coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy – an enlarged heart – and heart valve disease can all increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest, as they increase the risk of rhythm problems.
Kidney disease
Hospice nurse Julie McFadden said once kidney failure patients stop dialysis, their decline only takes seven to 10 days (stock image)
Julie McFadden, a hospice nurse in California, called end-stage kidney disease one of the most ‘peaceful’ ways to die.
Chronic kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney failure, occurs when another disease damages the organs and leaves them unable to properly filter out waste.
These include diabetes, high blood pressure, urinary obstructions, and recurrent infections, according to the Mayo Clinic.
When kidney disease progresses, the best treatment is a kidney transplant, though many patients wait on a transplant list for years, often becoming too sick for surgery.
Instead, patients undergo dialysis, which involves a machine removing waste from the blood when the kidneys can no longer do this.
However, this process can be time consuming and cause uncomfortable side effects like muscle cramps, low blood pressure, dizziness, and nausea.
Ms McFadden said in recent YouTube video: ‘End-stage kidney disease is a life-limiting chronic illness that is very hard to have because it’s so long term.’
‘[It’s] still difficult to have, but dying from end-stage kidney disease is definitely one of the most peaceful ways to die that I’ve seen.’
McFadden explained once patients stop dialysis, their decline typically only takes seven to 10 days.
During that time, it’s unlikely they will be in any pain, as they will sleep the majority of the time due to lethargy.
As toxins build up in the body after stopping dialysis, patients may experience itching, but ‘they’re so tired and sleeping all the time that they don’t notice the itching,’ McFadden said.
She called end-stage kidney disease the closest thing to dying in your sleep.
‘You slowly fall asleep until you die,’ she said.
In 2023, about 58,000 Americans died from kidney disease, making it the ninth leading cause of death in the US.
