The brain
can continue on for
thirty minutes after death. But it seems to be highly dependent on the individual in question. And the manner of death certainly matters - if I shoot myself in the head, that's clearly going to be different than if I take SN or drown or whatever. And one theory I've heard, though I am not educated enough to endorse it, is that your brain floods with glutamate, which will have the effect of "extending" the subjective feeling of time. It
might "seem" indefinite, even though your brain is only active for ten or fifteen minutes.
My takeaway: if your chosen method of CTBing doesn't destroy the brain in the process, then you need to undertake it with a view to minimizing pain in your final moments, lest you end up in a genuinely horrible place at the point of death. N, heroin, fentanyl, etc. are
always to be preferred where possible. If not possible, then a shotgun blast to the head is
probably preferable to drowning, hanging, etc: either obliterate the physical brain or die painlessly.
From our own SN guide - it causes heart palpitations, headache, nausea, etc.
N is really the
only painless method of death, unfortunately.