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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I fell in a pool when I was younger. I remember seeing everyone’s legs and watching everything happening underwater. It felt like minutes. I was not scared at all and it WAS peaceful. It is a strange thing.
I was choking to death. And while being driven to the hospital i was reassuring my mother that everything is ok. i truly felt like i would be in a better place then i was at the moment. There is a point where the sweet release of death is a happier place to be.
Fear is great for motivating us to avoid dangerous stuff. Once we’re in danger, however, fear does not make us smarter, it is simply an unnecessary distraction.
Eg: Fear the tiger, until you run into one. Then stand your ground, remain calm, and spear it in the face when it pounces you.
Added evolutionary bonus: it encourages suicidal sacrifice. Sure, Dave died to that tiger, but he did take it down. Now his relatives will live on, carrying some of his genes.
Edit: And when you’re truly fucked up, without modern medicine you’re dead. Better to accept that calmly than encourage your family to risk themselves or waste resources on you.
Doesn’t the brain have a certain amount of DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) it releases? Basically sending you off on a ‘trip’?
*Commonly described features of the DMT experience include a feeling of transcending one’s body and entering into an alternative ‘realm’*
[source](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01424)
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.
Since it’s not something that would impact reproductive chances I’d say it’s not something that was evolved or selected.
More likely a result of lack of oxygen to the brain that thus shuts down nonessential functions first.
While I do not know if this is true, there is another possible reason for this. Evolution often selects for genetics that are good for a species, not necessarily an individual.
You are living in a tribe in the stone age. A big bad thing is happening. A battle, flood, tsunami, earthquake, or fire.
You are in terrible danger or a great deal of pain. You scream for help. Your fellows risk themselves to help you. If many people are screaming they have confusion, tough choices, and just horrifying distractions everywhere that can get them killed. If they rescue you, they may be sacrificing someone else who has a better chance, or even sacrificing people who were in no danger at all if not for rescuing you.
Your screaming for help or in pain is a survival mechanism for you. For a society is a survival mechanism that people help other members of that society or species who are in pain or danger. But both of these can be a detriment to others if you are not going to make it anyway.
If you are convinced that you are definitely going to die even with help, it might be best for everyone else if you just shut up and get on with it.
It’s a story; you hear about it because it’s what people want to hear, and especially it’s something that people say when they are comforting someone who is dealing with a loss.
As the body fails, the brain fails too, and one of the odd things it can randomly do while it’s falling apart is generate euphoria. The brain might not necessarily fall apart in that particular way.
Being panicky in potentially life threatening situations can make you bad at surviving the situation
Then, as it turns out, being dead makes you bad at having babies
Those who remain calm in life threatening situations and survive are better at having babies than their dead comrades!
This means that more people have ancestors that remained calm in these situations, and since they’d be genetically similar to their ancestors, it means the portion of the population with these genetic traits will likely increase
Basically, it’s a trait of remaining calm and cool under pressure, which is helpful for living, which is helpful for having babies
How can there be any selection pressure to make your passing easier. Selection pressure only works if the characteristics are passed on to the next generation. In the circumstances this sounds highly unlikely.
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