Whether they believe in life after death or not, most people do not think of the body as having much use to anyone after death, which is why it is usually burnt or buried.
For many years now the principle of removing organs for donation where appropriate has been generally accepted and, in many cases, this can lead to other people's lives being saved.
You cannot, yet, donate your brain for potential transplant - and it is not hard to understand the problems, beyond the technical, that would be involved with that.
But you can still donate your brain, and your gift might help in the understanding of brain disease which could, eventually lead to potential treatments and cures. Neither you nor your relatives can use your brain after you and it are dead so that it could be put to use in this way is surely worth thinking about.
I hadn't thought about it at all until dementia came into my life. I still don't think about it much but I'm starting to consider donating my own brain. Even if it is not affected by dementia - and 20% of people in their late 80s will develop dementia - it could still be of use to researchers.
You can find out more here:
http://www.hta.gov.uk/bodyorganandtissuedonation/howtodonateyourbody/donatingyourbrain.cfm
There's even a Brains for Dementia Research Centre.
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