How long would you live for if your head was chopped off

Years ago when they chopped peoples heads off, surely you wouldnt die instantly, so that means they saw themselves roll in a basket?

My wife and I witnessed a fatal accident about a year ago that involved a motorcycle, The riders head was cut completely off, and he was saying help me for five minutes before his brain finally shut down. He could still move his eyes too. He was just sitting there looking at us. I was going to get something and beat his head to kill him, but the time I got back with a board I found..He had died.

This story is a load of crap. You need your larynx, windpipe and lungs to speak. If this guy's head was severed, he could not say "help me." He also couldn't do this for five minutes. He'd have been unconscious after three or four minutes, tops, from oxygen deprivation.

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Natailee, your "common sense" is not based on any knowledge of biology. Your brain can live without oxygen for several minutes. It doesn't die immediately the minute the head is severed. It is no longer getting oxygen, but it can stay alive for a brief time. This seems like common sense to me.

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Your first cells will obviously die by the force of chop. Soon after, your body will go in total shock so you will probably not experience anything at all. Purely scientifically, you will probably live for a few seconds, as many cells will be able to acces sugars and other supplies. Short after, metabolic will falter. While some cells will survive for a much longer time, most of them will be death and obviously so will you be.

Since the brain can go for a couple of minutes without oxygen, it seems to me the brain would still function and that a severed head could see for a short time. I wonder if anyone's ever done a study about this.
(I've always heard that when they executed Mary, Queen of Scots, they held up her head and her lips moved for a brief time.)

As for people, it's probably just a second or two. The pain and blood loss would cause one to go into shock very quickly. I don't know for sure though.....

You wouldn't live at all. If your head is chopped off, you would die immediately.

2 seconds?