20 Unusual Life-Threatening Things That Cause More Deaths Than We Realize

Since no one has found the eternal elixir of life, our fate is as yet sealed. We must all die someday. However, while you’re living life large, there are a few things to keep in mind in the meantime. One of the many lessons of life we need to learn is the study of unusual ways to die.

#1 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.

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#2 Mozzarella sticks. Statistically the most choked on food.

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#3 Mosquitoes.

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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.

#4 Left-handed people using right-handed tools.

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#5 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.

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#6 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.

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#7 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.

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

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#9 Falling in the bathroom, especially the shower.

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

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

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

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#13 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.

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#14 Diving

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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!

#15 Texting and driving.

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#16 Falling coconuts cause about 150 deaths annually

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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.

#17 Driving while sleepy.

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

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#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.

Image source: criticallycrafty, Vladdeep

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.

#20 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.

Image source: markth_wi