Science & TechnologyJAN 26, 2023

"Mozzarella Sticks": 40 Life-Threatening Things That Are More Deadly Than Most People Think

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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

"Mozzarella Sticks": 40 Life-Threatening Things That Are More Deadly Than Most People Think

Texting and driving.

AdditionalCheetah354, drazenphoto

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318points

#2

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.

Petal_Chatoyance, seventyfourimages

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313points

#3

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.

DroppedDonut, vladans

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255points

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

Depression is responsible for 850,000 deaths anually.

heron27, gpointstudio

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227points

#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.

sublime_mime, Fahroni

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223points

#6

Driving while sleepy.

latchkey_adult, nina_p_v

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201points

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

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 [take you out].
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.

remesabo, Wdnld

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196points

#8

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

Lastalmark, ADDICTIVE_STOCK

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192points

#9

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

Bobkathead, Pressmaster

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181points

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

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!

tripelt, globetrotter_

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168points

#11

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.

TheHierothot, Rawpixel

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162points

#12

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.

TheOddestOfSocks, nd3000

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155points

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

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

Nicole_Harper619, svitlanah

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151points

#14

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.

Onikisuen, barbaraj714

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150points

#15

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.

p-s0, alessandrozocc

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148points

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

Abusive romantic partners.

abstractelement, damirkhabirov

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142points

#17

Mozzarella sticks. Statistically the most choked on food.

SpecSanders, Toby Oxborrow

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140points

#18

Loneliness.

beanybean1810, deasyjunitad

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128points

#19

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.

thesymmetrybreaker, manfredxy

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127points

#20

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.

criticallycrafty, Vladdeep

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114points

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