I’ve heard of people with near death experiences having these calm, soothing experiences. It’s lovely that our brains do this for us.
I know there’s a natural selection, those with the best characteristics continued, and those who didn’t have the qualities to survive would pass away. But everyone dies in the end. What made it so that all brains release those chemicals to ease our last moments?
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Our bodies have a response to danger: fear and pain release chemicals that speed up our heart rates and basically allow us to tap into reserves of strength and energy. The reason we’re not tapped into that all the time is too much time or intensity spent in that state will kill you. Think of it like running a race car in the red: fine for a short sprint, but if you don’t back off soon you’ll eventually blow the engine.
So our brains have a countermeasure to calm us down so we don’t kill ourselves trying to save ourselves. Whenever pain or fear gets too intense, the brain releases endorphins (endogenous morphine) to calm us back down. The more intense the pain or fear, the more intense the countermeasure.
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