WYR Burn to death or freeze to death?
In this hypothetical situation, you are told you ARE going to die and you get to choose from two ways, either you burn to death (Hyperthermia) or you freeze to death (Hypothermia)...
Here are what the two would feel like
Hyperthermia, or overheating, would raise core temperatures to above 40 Degrees Celsius (104 Degrees Fahrenheit) and your body would begin to slowly shut down. The nervous system is entirely active and you would feel all of the pain. Early stages include extreme headaches and nausea, then involuntary muscle spasms will start to happen as temperatures rise and stress is then put on your heart and kidneys. It eventually leads to widespread inflammation and mitochondrial damage and finally cell death, leading to a fiery and painful, yet quicker, demise as you are cooked to death.
On the other hand Hypothermia would make core temperatures drop to below 35 Degrees Celsius (95 Degrees Fahrenheit). Early stages include sharp, agonizing pain as the cold overtakes your body, you eventually get to a point of numbness as your nervous system is directly impacted. The brain then starts to cool and cognitive impairments include: slurred speech, confusion, extreme fatigue, and loss of coordination. As time goes on you slowly begin to lose consciousness as a burning sensation from the cold starts to overtake your body, your heart, brain, and other organs start to slow as you slowly fall out of consciousness as you freeze to your death, slow yet nearly painless at the very end