Walking down a flight of stairs can be as mundane an activity as tying a pair of shoes. Most of us treat it as something that is second nature, completely forgetting about the inherent dangers. To paint quite a grim picture, various law firms have reported that over a million people in the US get injured each year falling down a stairway.
Now, this isn’t a doom and gloom post as much as it is a reminder of the things and activities that can actually badly hurt us (or worse) if we get too careless. It could be swimming in the ocean, posting personal details online, or being out in nature, among many others.
These people on Reddit also shared their insights, which you will find as you scroll through.
#1
Posting your entire life online. No one needs to know everything about you. Too much risk in something coming back to bite you in the a*s.
People that do this are literally insane.
Image credits: CallingDrDingle
#2
Swimming in the ocean.
Image credits: dddybtv
#3
Electricity.
Image credits: Ronw12
#4
Petting strangers’ dogs. Even breeds not generally considered dangerous.
Image credits: 142riemann
#5
Driving. We do it every day. And every day there are more cars on roads. We’re increasing our chances of injury or passing every day.
Image credits: Veteranis
#6
Usually things that make people say "Well I do it all the time and I'm fine".
Image credits: The_Joker_116
#7
Botox. Medspas.
#8
Poor dental hygiene can lead to heart disease.
Image credits: speckledgem
#9
Walking around or behind a horse without keeping your hand on it.
Horses can get very scared very fast and a well placed kick can beak your neck, leave you a vegetable or even stop your heart.
If you must move around one, keep a hand on it after it is aware of your presence and slide it with you so it knows where you are, also stay very close to it the whole time so the potential kick has less wind-up.
#10
Carnival rides.
Image credits: masturkiller
#11
Stairs. They end a lot of people.
Image credits: Parking_War_4100
#12
Water. It's so powerful.
Image credits: Kind-Character7342
#13
Speeding, using your phone while driving.
Image credits: anon
#14
Garage door springs.
#15
A lot of carnival rides. A lot of them have long-ignored mechanical problems, and the people operating them aren't exactly rocket scientists.
#16
Dating.
Image credits: Glittering_Estate744
#17
Hippos.
Image credits: FreshPrinceOfH
#18
Mountain biking. It is a super popular sport but it is really dangerous. I am a mountain biker. Everyone I know has had a serious injury.
Image credits: english_major
#19
E-scooters.
#20
Grapes and other easy to accidentally swallow foods.
#21
Sunbathing may be?
#22
Alcohol.
#23
Ozempic.
#24
Island beaches. There are a lot in Hawaii that are a lot more dangerous than tourists realize. Islands are on the edge of the vast ocean and can sweep people in.
#25
Mushrooms there is a saying. There are old mushroom hunters. And bold mushroom hunters. But there are no old bold mushroom hunters.
#26
Wet tile.
#27
On the beach: "Oh, look, the water is going way out!".
#28
Saving someone with a heimlich grip. You can definitely rupture someone's organs with this move and people have died as a result of being saved by this procedure. Always send someone to the hospital after doing this as the victim might otherwise bleed to death in their sleep that night.
#29
Water that you only *think* is deep.
Always check before you jump. Always.
#30
Crossing the road, even when doing it "properly".
#31
Running water in a steam / river. The currents are much stronger than they look and can easily sweep an adult right off their feet.
#32
Driving closely behind a truck pulling a trailer, cutting them off or breaking suddenly in front of them. If I'm hauling a horse trailer, I CANNOT stop quickly. You put everyone in danger by doing that.
#33
Flour.
Flour dispersed into the air is more explosive than gunpowder, and eating raw flour can give you salmonella.
#34
Letting your dog off the leash in public.
#35
Hiking alone.
#36
I think people know using a mobile device while driving is dangerous, but don't *realize* its danger.
#37
Being out in nature.
It's a lot of fun to visit, but trying to spend an extended amount of time (like overnight) without preparation and knowledge can get you k****d.
#38
Re-ligion.
#39
Showers. Old people slip and get broken bones often. Also rugs.
#40
Notes appearing around the house that you didn't put there.
#41
Childbirth. A surprising amount of people go into pregnancy not realizing how bad it can be and end up with some sort of impairment, disability, or even death because of it. My mom almost died birthing my youngest sibling. The US has high maternal mortality rates, and yet people act like you’re crazy when you say you don’t want kids.
#42
Eating rice that’s been left out for a while.
#43
Honestly. Just driving back and forth from work always seems so benign that I forgot to be thankful for getting home safely.
Car accidents are one of the leading causes of death in the US!
#44
NSAIDS (ibuprofen, alive, etc) when there's alcohol in your system. That stuff will fry your kidneys.
#45
Knocking somebody out. According to movies you just hit the ground and get up after a couple of minutes of unconsciousness then shrug it off.
#46
Pushing someone in the water as a prank. Why is that still a thing? I've heard of people getting seriously hurt or drowning. Even a redditor said that they knew how to swim but they were taken by surprise so their body froze up.
#47
Letting small children play with dogs. Especially medium to larger breeds that can do a lot of damage. And yes, I’m looking at you: pit bulls, akitas, German shepherds, etc.
Even that special angel of a dog who has never shown aggression before, can react when feeling stressed.
I will fight anyone and die on this hill!!
Edit: I know not everyone thinks this but there’s a lot of folks out there who will deny that their precious dog COULD EVER do harm. And that is plain false.
#48
Sleep deprivation, and not sleeping properly for whatever reason because procrastination seems funnier.
Image credits: ES_Legman
#49
Saving a drowning person. The person isn't just going to calm down and let him being dragged, he is going to try to save himself at your cost.
#50
Texting and driving.
I know you think you're a safe driver and you're paying attention but you're just not. You're distracted and in charge of a speeding tonne of metal. Seriously, don't do it.
#51
Petting dogs you're not familiar with. So many people just walk up to dogs and start trying to pat them, and then have the gall to be offended when the dog is anything less than enthusiastic about being petted by a stranger.
The simple truth is that, like people, dogs have different personalities and even those raised by perfectly good families and socialized as pups can end up with attitude problems. You also never know what could set off a dog or what hidden trauma it may or may not have. I have seen so many people who try to push forward even when the dog is already growling at them. You'd think they'd realize that the dog is explicitly warning them that it's gonna bite if they come any closer, but they don't listen. They think it's funny/cute/a test and still try to pet the dog since they "have a way with animals".
Approach all dogs with caution, ask first how friendly the dog is, and don't be mad when the owner is blunt and tells you to stay away.
#52
Wet floors. Busted 4 of my teeth out a couple months ago right after I clocked out and slipped on the floor I JUST mopped.
#53
Marriage.
#54
Birth control pills. In some women, they can cause blood clots (DVT or deep vein thrombosis). These clots can form anywhere in the body. Sometimes the blood clots can dislodge and get carried by blood to lungs (pulmonary embolism) or heart (heart attack). When blood clotting occurs in the brain (cerebral thrombosis), they can cause a stroke.
EDIT: I would also like to share that last year I had a CVT stroke because I had been on Estrogen BC for 8 months. 8 MONTHS!!! That’s all it took. Out of the blue, I had severe headache that felt like someone was hitting the back of my head with a baseball bat...every second. I lost motor control in my arms and legs, couldn’t see properly or understand anything. I even forgot my name! Turns out all major veins in my brain were completely clogged by clots. It took over a year of rehab but luckily I have fully recovered. I hope and wish this never happen to anyone ever. Sorry for the long text.
#55
Literally anything if you throw it hard enough.
#56
Not doing the dishes and mum coming home.
#57
Diarrhea.
#58
Sunburns can be very dangerous.
Normally you don't think too much of them, just a few days of irritated/itchy skin, but if you aren't careful you drastically increase your chance of getting malignant melanoma (skin cancer) through a handful of decent sunburns.
#59
Kids who let the escalator slide their shoes from the stairs to the platform. Also animals going on escalators period. If you don’t want to know why then don’t google “escalator degloving”.
#60
To anyone unfamiliar with cooking, if you're frying with a lot of oil, do not add water and especially not an ice cube. Sounds so silly, but you'd be surprised that it's not more of a PSA especially considering how harmless in theory it sounds.
#61
Using a fire escape on an old multi-floor apartment building.
A resident found out the hard way when trying to exit by using the building's badly rusted fire escape. The weight of his body caused one of the "landings" to cave in, even though the landlord supposedly had the fire escape "inspected" for code compliance.
#62
Prescribed medicine. Just because it’s prescribed doesn’t mean it’s safe.
#63
Eating cinnamon.
#64
Falling in love. If you do it with someone who doesn't care enough to recognize the significance it could be the death of you. It's probably going to be the death of me.
#65
Sugar. Most people don't realize how terrible the stuff is for you. *takes sip of soda*.
#66
Tylenol. If it came out today, it would be prescription only.
#67
Popping your neck can cause a stroke!
Edit: my understanding of the physiology was wrong. It has more to do with impaired blood flow to the brain than blood clots.
