What Happens After You Die?

When you die, it’s like going to sleep forever, but not just any sleep.

Your body is like a house: when the person who lives there goes away, the house stands still. But sometimes, people put special instructions in a little book called a will, telling others what they want to happen with their stuff.

What Your Body Does

When you die, your heart stops beating and your brain slows down, just like when you fall asleep and don’t wake up again. After that, your body starts to change: it gets cold, the color fades, and sometimes, people give you a little nap with special machines or even coffins, which are like big boxes for your house.

What Happens Next

Sometimes, people bring your body to another place, maybe in a cemetery, which is like a park full of houses. Other times, your body might go into the ground, or get turned into ashes, and then put back into a special box or even scattered into the wind.

It’s not magic, it’s just like when you leave a room and someone else comes in to sit where you were. When you die, it’s like going to sleep forever, but not just any sleep.

Your body is like a house: when the person who lives there goes away, the house stands still. But sometimes, people put special instructions in a little book called a will, telling others what they want to happen with their stuff.

What Your Body Does

When you die, your heart stops beating and your brain slows down, just like when you fall asleep and don’t wake up again. After that, your body starts to change: it gets cold, the color fades, and sometimes, people give you a little nap with special machines or even coffins, which are like big boxes for your house.

What Happens Next

Sometimes, people bring your body to another place, maybe in a cemetery, which is like a park full of houses. Other times, your body might go into the ground, or get turned into ashes, and then put back into a special box or even scattered into the wind.

It’s not magic, it’s just like when you leave a room and someone else comes in to sit where you were.

Take the quiz →

Examples

  1. A child imagines going to a magical place when they die.
  2. Grandma tells stories about her ancestors coming back to visit.
  3. A dog waits by the door, expecting its owner to return.

Ask a question

See also

Discussion

Recent activity