“The Eyes After Death”: 50 Of The Most Bizarrely Fascinating Photos Shared By Medical Professionals (New Pics)

It takes a special kind of person to enter the medical field. You hold someone's life in your hands. The responsibility is real. But besides having the brains, you need to have the guts and stomach to handle anything that an unpredictable day or night may throw at you. Many of us can watch medical dramas unfold from the comfort of our couch. But as for being part of the real deal? No thank you, I'll pass.

Medicine has always been a mix of science, mystery, and—on occasion—the pure shocking or bizarre. Think surgeons discovering household objects lodged in places they definitely shouldn’t be, patients exhibiting symptoms that baffle even the most seasoned professionals, or rare cases of people performing surgery on themselves and then visiting a doctor or hospital after the fact.

While many of us ordinary people wouldn't dream of becoming doctors or surgeons, that hasn't stopped us from getting sucked into scrolling through pics like these, watching a gripping medical drama series, or even a tense and gory documentary.

Shows like Grey's Anatomy, E.R. and House M.D. have proven for years that the public just can't get enough of what happens behind the closed doors of a busy, chaotic hospital. Even if we want to look away sometimes.

And there's apparently a scientific explanation for that...

According to experts, what happens to your brain when you watch graphic medical footage is similar to the kind of reaction you might have if you were to witness it firsthand. Watching emergency room shows activates the sympathetic nervous system, says neuropsychologist Dr. Marian Rissenberg.

"The fight or flight response is triggered, which increases heart rate and blood pressure and redirects blood from our major organs to our limbs, so we can battle or run, and so on," the doctor told Bustle. "We like the feeling of being scared, on a smaller scale or a virtual plane, when we are confident we will be okay."

But why can surgeons handle the drama in real life while some of those outside of the field would flee? It's got to do with how your brain adapts to seeing things. Doctors subconsciously program their brains to see injuries as a problems that need to be fixed, rather than stimuli to have an emotional response over, says Rissenberg.

"When a motor response is practiced many times, the cerebellum makes a macro for it (a mini short-cut program) so even if it's very complex, you can do it without your cortex — without thinking."

But as we mentioned earlier, some people are just automatically hardwired to be able to deal with blood and gore, while others aren't. "Some people thrive on the adrenaline rush of working in the ER say, but many of us would find it too stressful," explains the expert. "We all have a different optimal stress level, too much and we’re anxious, not enough and we’re bored."

While many of us won't hold a scalpel and use it, we will actively seek out footage or photos that show someone else doing that. Basically, we get a thrill out of activating our fight-or-flight response.

"We have a morbid fascination with nature," Rissenberg says. "Particularly our own amazing bodies, and all the things that can go wrong, but that are thankfully not going wrong for us in the moment."

The medical shows also satisfy our curiosity, says Chicago-based emergency medicine physician Dr. Sonia Shah. We get a peek inside a world we would not ordinarily be invited to see.

"I imagine that on some subconscious level, we cannot help but be intrigued at seeing something so socially unacceptable and morbid," says Shah.

Sometimes we watch medical dramas to help us feel better about our own conditions. "When you are a patient being treated and see their condition get better and worse, it intrigues us," writes high school student Echo Brooke.

"You typically get sent through a range of emotions like fear and relief. This tends to activate our fight-or-flight response. This can give you a boost of energy and release dopamine, making you feel happier," she adds.

Of course, many people are purely fascinated by the inner workings of the human body. And we get to learn through shows like Grey's, or listicles like the ones featured on Bored Panda.

"Being healthy and knowing if something is wrong is important for most, so watching these shows can have an appeal to them," writes Brooke. "It makes us feel like we know more about our bodies and can give us almost a sense of control."