The uncomfortable truth that we all want to avoid is that someday, we’ll all die. However, until that moment comes, it’s up to us to ensure that our lives have purpose and meaning, that we leave behind a positive legacy, and that we get to enjoy as many awesome things as we can. The longer we live, the more time we have to do all of those fun things with great people. That’s why we take care of our health and avoid taking dumb risks.

However, when you sit down and think about it, there are far more risks to our health out there than many of us realize—and many of them aren’t all that apparent. Redditor u/adventure21mc started up a viral thread on the r/AskReddit online group, asking internet users about the things that cause Death “more than people realize,” and many shared their thoughts. You’ll probably be more careful in the future, as you’ll never look at things like driving while sleepy and avoiding treating dental problems the same way again.

Keep in mind, though, that the purpose of this article isn’t to make you scared, simply to make you more aware of what reality can be like, without any frills. There is no such thing as being ‘perfectly safe.’ We can do our best to avoid many dangers, and we shouldn’t stop living our lives because we’re too frightened of getting hurt.

We reached out to redditor u/adventure21mc for a friendly chat about their viral thread, how to balance safety with living to the fullest, and how to make life feel more purposeful. The OP was kind enough to answer Bored Panda's questions. "I think my post resonated with many people due to them discovering that many common causes of death go unreported or underreported. While I did get a few responses I was expecting (alcoholism, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.), I did not know stairs and tripping kill thousands of people every year," they said.

"In addition, what inspired me to make this post was the hundreds of thousands of people who die every year due to medical malpractice, which is a very common form of death that nevertheless goes underreported or ignored by society." Read on for the rest of our interview with the author of the thread.

#1

Texting and driving.

Image credits: AdditionalCheetah354

#2

Stress. Your body can only handle so much of it and it’s labeled the “silent killer” for that reason. With your high blood pressure and the 5 hours of sleep a night because of the stress, It will creep up on you sooner than you think.

Image credits: DroppedDonut

#3

Untreated dental problems. A cavity left untreated can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Image credits: Lastalmark

Some people can feel completely overwhelmed, anxious, and fearful for their safety after hearing about all the potential risks waiting for them just going about their daily lives. Bored Panda wanted to get redditor u/adventure21mc's opinion on how to live one's life to the fullest, while also staying safe.

"In my eyes, being alert and trusting your instincts is a good way to balance safety and living life well. While I don't think you should go through life being cynical about everything, having a backup plan and looking for potential warning signs in your life is a good way to avoid potential danger in death," they explained.

"While death may come for us all eventually, taking precautions and taking care of yourself physically and mentally is a good way of increasing your chances of having a longer lifespan."

#4

Driving while sleepy.

Image credits: latchkey_adult

#5

Falling coconuts cause about 150 deaths annually

Coconuts [take out] around 150 people worldwide each year, which makes them about ten times more dangerous than sharks.

But the moment you suggest coconut week everyone acts like you're the weird one.

Image credits: sublime_mime

#6

Tripping. On average around 17k people a year in the US die from injuries incurred after tripping and falling.

Image credits: EdithWhartonsFarts

In the thread author's opinion, "life is about enjoyment and the memories we make. Life, to our current knowledge, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we should make use of that opportunity through memories (preferably good, though bad memories are inevitable)."

They told Bored Panda that struggles in life are unavoidable and there will be many of them. However, "enjoying the world, making good memories, and forging relationships with friends and family will do wonders in living life to the fullest and making it more purposeful."

Redditor u/adventure21mc opened up to us that though they're happy that their post got so many upvotes and comments, they feel "a little embarrassed" that their "most upvoted comment on Reddit ever asked about a subject as dark and morbid as death."

#7

Stairs.

20 million severe injuries each year and at least 200.000 death from consequences of the fall. Both my grandparents died because of a fall.

Image credits: OnTheGoodSideofLife

#8

Odd fact I learned over New Years, Champagne corks [take out] more people that spiders on average every year. I think the yearly average is 34 deaths.

Image credits: Impressive-Floor-700

#9

Mosquitoes.

Selfish_Princess replied:

That's right! Mosquitoes [take out] one million people a year. One MILLION. For context, the next animal is comically humans themselves, with 135 thousand homicides.

Image credits: p-s0

The fact of the matter is that there are many things that we simply can’t control. And that’s a problem because human beings want certainty and routine in their lives. They help us feel safe and ensure that we can plan for the future. So when something unpredictable happens to us, we can feel disappointed, frustrated, lost, and even traumatized, depending on the severity of the event.

However, the last thing that we want to do is to run away from these uncomfortable feelings. Instead, we ought to try embracing the fact that life on Planet Earth can be unpredictable and uncertain at times. Not everything will go to plan. Bad things happen to good people. We’ll never be prepared for all bad outcomes.

So we’re left with doing the best that we can and letting go of the need to control what’s essentially uncontrollable. We can change how we react to what’s happening to us and can adjust our expectations. Meanwhile, embracing the chaos can, in turn, help us become more resilient.

The things that we can control include what we eat, how much we exercise and spend outdoors, whether we get enough sleep and practice good hygiene, as well as whether we have meaningful relationships with others, how we deal with stress, and what we do in our spare time. That's on top of being more aware of our surroundings (are you watching where you're going? Do you look both ways before crossing the street) and knowing the basics of what to do in case of an emergency.

#10

Ladders. Ladders [take out] around 300 people/year in the US.

Image credits: patcpsc

#11

Mozzarella sticks. Statistically the most choked on food.

Image credits: SpecSanders

#12

Grief. People think it's a myth but you can die of a broken heart.

According to the CDC’s data from 2020, the leading causes of death in the United States include heart disease (696,962 deaths), cancer (602,350), Covid-19 (350,831), accidents (200,955), stroke (160,264), and chronic lower respiratory diseases (152,657).

That year, Alzheimer’s disease claimed 134,242 lives. Diabetes killed 102,188 Americans, while influenza and pneumonia were responsible for the untimely death of 53,544 people. Nephritis (kidney inflammation), nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis also claimed the lives of 52,547 people.

#13

Depression is responsible for 850,000 deaths anually.

Image credits: heron27

#14

Selfies, in obviously dangerous situations.

silent_manu replied:

Schools banned field trips in our region before for a year or two due to three different incidents of students trying taking a selfie during a field trip.

Image credits: B_sides45

#15

Air pollution from fossil fuel burning & heavy industry, mostly in China & India. The number of premature deaths from air pollution is estimated at 6 - 7 million per year. Put another way, fossil fuels cause more deaths every 2 - 3 weeks than nuclear power has in its entire history even if you do the completely dishonest thing of including Hiroshima & Nagasaki in that total.

Image credits: thesymmetrybreaker

Globally, the leading causes of death are cardiovascular diseases while cancers are in second place. High blood pressure, smoking, obesity, high blood sugar, and air pollution are also to blame for many health problems.

However, the causes of death can vary quite significantly from country to country. Broadly speaking, non-communicable diseases cause the most harm in rich countries. Meanwhile, infectious diseases are the most dangerous in lower-income countries, according to ‘Our World in Data.’ This is slowly changing, and fewer people are dying due to infectious diseases, but more are losing their lives because of non-communicable ones.

#16

Street fights.

You watch some Hollywood blockbusters and some MMA fights and you think you can do it too. I've seen stories of a guy minding his own business and gets rocked on the side of his head. It disconnected his spine and he was dead before he hit the ground. There was another story maybe a year ago of a scuffle where a guy was stabbed in the neck and bled out to the point of being unable to stand within 10 seconds. Stop f*****g around, it's not worth your life.

Image credits: Choiceofart

#17

Female heart attacks. We tend to feel pain from other places other than the chest. Never even realized it was a heart attack.

#18

Influenza. Just regular old flu. Many people ignore it thinking it'll go away on its own. Globally the number per year is usually between 300k and 500k. In the US it can be anywhere from 12k to 50k per year.

Image credits: PhreedomPhighter

#19

UTIs. They can EASILY turn into sepsis. My mother has nearly died twice from a UTI she had no symptoms of until she was septic. And she has lingering issues from the sepsis 5 years ago.

UTIs seem like no big deal but get your a*s to the doctor for antibiotics right away. They can kill you before you know it.

Image credits: criticallycrafty

#20

Child birth. Oddly enough still somewhat dangerous. Obviously much safer than it used to be, but there can be pretty serious complications. People seem to think its totally risk free these days.

Image credits: TheOddestOfSocks

#21

Left-handed people using right-handed tools.

#22

Homelessness.

So many people want to seem like they care, but nobody wants to face the grim fact that **hundreds, if not thousands, of people in America freeze to death on the streets in the winter.**

People are homeless for a variety of reasons; myself, I was getting away from abusers and had nowhere to go. I never got into hard drugs, but I easily could have, and many people do. That’s the thing—drug abuse usually doesn’t cause homelessness; homelessness consistently causes drug abuse.) And in that time I met people who became homeless due to disability, the death of a partner, the death of a parent, medical expenses from cancer treatments—and maybe literally 3-5 people who became homeless because of their drug habit, but they were VERY MUCH SO in the minority.

#23

Falling in the bathroom, especially the shower.

Image credits: MushroomMossSnail

#24

Abusive romantic partners.

#25

Loneliness.

Image credits: beanybean1810

#26

“Hey! Watch this!”

#27

Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.

Image credits: _forum_mod

#28

Anorexia has a higher death rate than depression. It has the highest death rate among all mental disorders

#29

High Blood Pressure. It sneaks up on you and you don't know about it or don't care but its the underlying cause of so many deaths.

Image credits: Fear51

#30

Toxic shock from a combination of an injury, bad sanitation and inadequate medical facilities. It usually happens in 3rd world countries that tourists love to visit and get drunk in. One wrong step in the wrong footwear. Its bye bye time

#31

Constipation. About 900 deaths per year.

Image credits: grantnel2002

#32

Water, essential to live, but used improperly will kill you.

#33

Untreated infections. Your body will become septic, in which it essentially kills itself trying to kill off whatever infection one has.

#34

Pneumonia.

#35

Tetanus. Get your vax up to date, it's ugly.

Image credits: bmb00zld

#36

Forgetting kids inside cars.

#37

Shoveling snow. I have two family friends pass from heart attacks associated to shoveling the snow

Image credits: JD054

#38

Medical malpractice. One hears about it, but one doesn't really hear that much about it. It's not reported in the media, there aren't any loud groups screeching about it all the time, but medical malpractice results in around 300,000 deaths per year in the U.S., according to the CDC. Compare this to all firearm related deaths, including suicide (which make up about half of all firearm deaths in the U.S.).

#39

Well, here we go.

Not exactly a huge surprise but once upon a time I worked with a regional set of hospitals coordinating nationwide cause of death reports and statistics.

- 80% of all organ donor tissues cannot be accepted due to safety concerns around organ recovery.

- I won't say how much, but a surprisingly high percentage of successful organ donors are motorcyclists.

- Cheerleading , particularly involving gymnastic/aerobatic actions is one of , if not the leading causes of death for young women under 18.

- Football, is a major cause of CTE, and an unexpectedly large number of football and hockey players die in younger life.

- Gunshot injuries and suicides are seasonal, something you can discern by way of the death-rate in provinces and territories where it is dark for long periods of winter, Seasonal Affective Disorder is no joke. Talk to your physician first but SAD can be treated with Vitamin D and getting as much sunlight exposure as possible.

#40

Icicles.

Image credits: Waggles_T_Snugdragon

#41

Chiropractors.

Although the exact number of deaths is unclear due to lack of documentation, it's estimated that at least 40 people per year (in the US) die from chiropractic manipulation.

Image credits: Onikisuen

#42

This is going to get buried since I’m answering so late in the game…

Not a cause of death, but still extremely important info that I am constantly telling others about: suffering a spinal cord injury from diving into water.

I’m a quadriplegic and run a nonprofit that works with people after they suffer a spinal cord injury. Other than car accidents, diving into water is the second most common cause for spinal cord injuries that we see. The worst part about it is that it is probably the most preventable cause.

I’m constantly amazed that people will dive into water without knowing how deep it is, or even just jumping headfirst into an oncoming wave on the beach. If you are going to dive into the water, dive straight out, not down so that your head will potentially hit the bottom or a submerged object that you didn’t know was there. If you have kids, teach this PLEASE!

#43

Cows, in America, they [take out] 22 people per year, on average.

Image credits: Sandman1031

#44

Covid. People don't take it seriously enough. They don't mask. They don't get vaccinated.

One of my friends lost two members of her family at the same time from covid - and both of them were fairly young people, not old people.

Covid can also mess you up. One of my family members has long covid, and she has been seriously damaged now for seven months. Sleeps 16 hours a day, has trouble eating, brain fog, weakness.

Covid kills and it also cripples, and people pretend we aren't still in the middle of a pandemic. They act like it's no big deal.

It's a big deal.

#45

Alcoholism causing liver failure and its on the rise in the USA.

#46

Common colds for elderly people. Lost 3 of my 4 grandparents to one, that turned into pneumonia and at that advanced age ☠️... Funny no lockdowns for it though.

#47

Dogs. The US does a good job with rabies vaccination, unfortunately it's not the same for all countries.

#48

I legitimately say smoking cigarettes. I watched my mom (lung cancer), dad (bladder cancer), both grandfathers (lung and throat cancer), one grandmother ( brain cancer) and an aunt ( throat cancer but never smoked, had lived with smokers since birth)die very slowly and very painfully from decades of smoking/exposure. I smoked for 20+ years, quit 8 years ago while I was still in my 30s, but I have 2 older sisters that smoke like crazy and I hate to say it, but I am starting to see the really bad signs I saw with my other family members who passed.
If you smoke, it's going to kill you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.. you gotta die sometime, but do you really want it to be while you're gurgling words through a hole in your neck, begging for an extra push of morphine to dampen the pain as all your organs slowly fail?
Just. Quit.

#49

Seizures....
According to WHO statistics, More people die from a seizure every year that die of breast cancer. It is the second leading neurological issue only to depression and 9/10 people in the world will have at least one seizure in their lifetime however very little is known or taught about a seizure and what is known or "taught" is not usually correct.
1) Not all seizures are "Grand Mall" and if you see someone have a Grand mall seizure never stick something in their mouth, this can in most cases cause more injury and more likely cause death than the person biting down on their own tongue.
2) any seizure can kill a person. it is an electrical storm in the brain causing a lack of oxygen to part or all of the brain. And Any seizure can cause permanent damage.
3) Most seizures are not drug induced and actually have no medical reason ever found to what caused the seizure to happen.

Both causes of death are traumatic, however there are things that can be taught in every day life to lower the death percentage of seizure deaths.

#50

Tylenol.

#51

Vending machines falling on top of them.

Image credits: Maplecook

#52

Transphobia.

#53

Heart attacks/Heart Disease.

#54

Aneurysms f**k you up out of nowhere.

#55

Alcohol withdrawal. As a person that has has many withdrawals people don’t seem to understand how potentially serious the withdrawals are, especially done without medical assistance. Thank f**k I don’t have to go through that s**t.

#56

Diarrhea.

#57

Lack of sleep causing psychosis.

#58

Hippos.

#59

Tree wells.

Stay safe skiers and boarders.

#60

Sleep apnea causes heart attacks. If you snore get a sleep study done.

#61

Not going to the doctor regularly. We should have a plan like maintenance on a car. Regular oil change and checkups, at a certain mileage get the transmission checked, etc.

#62

I got this one because it was one of the first facts I learned on reddit: a bottle of minced garlic past it's due date. Literally poison and an incredibly painful death.

Image credits: Vioralarama

#63

ADHD

Researchers have identified ADHD as a key risk factor in premature death among adults. A study published in The Lancet showed that people with ADHD have a lower life expectancy and are more than twice as likely to die prematurely as those without the disorder.

#64

Deer are responsible for about 200 deaths per year due to car accidents.

#65

Lack of meaningful relationships, the health impact of not having social ties is on par with smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

#66

Walking on frozen lakes and ponds.

#67

Working hard, it destroys you mentally and leaves you pretty stressed. So a lot of people rely on vices to forcefully unwind which leads into bad habits and makes it harder to keep up good habits.

#68

Not staying hydrated. Being dehydrated literally ages your cells faster as well as allows for toxins to bundle up and expand in your body leading to disease. Drink water.

#69

Diabetes ... its not always the disease itself that kills you its all the co morbidity that comes with it.

Swelling , prone to infection , organ damage , eye damage, limb loss even cutting ur own toenails keeping feet free from cuts ... tiny scratches that can turn into cellulitis then sepsis .

Yeah don't recommend it

#70

Obesity-caused illnesses.

#71

Bad nutrition.

#72

STDs like the HPV virus cause cervical, vaginal, vulgar, a**l, and head and neck cancer. Often these cancers can be cured with intense radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy but also many die