Top 10 Things You Didn't Know Will Kill You

For most of us, the day can be quite hard to get through without a cup of coffee. Or five. But we just have to remember to keep it sensible, because things can turn ugly. Granted, there’s a very high barrier to fatality when overdosing on coffee. But it is possible. Too much caffeine can put an incredible physical strain on the body, and it’s estimated that between fifty and 100 cups of coffee could prove fatal if consumed in quick succession. The primary method of death in this case would be cardiac arrest. While coffee is relatively harmless in small doses, caffeine itself does not get the same pass. Just one teaspoon of pure, powdered caffeine is enough to kill someone.

This can be an arduous task, yes, but it seems harmless enough. It hurts, and maybe you sneeze a few times while your eyes water like crazy, but other than that, we don’t give it a second thought. But did you know that plucking nose hairs can actually lead to death? Again, the chances of this happening are extremely low, but a low chance is not an impossibility. Ripping hair out of your skin follicles can lead to infection, and if this infection travels through the bloodstream from your nose to the brain, then it’s pretty much game over. Fatal complications like acute bacterial meningitis and cavernous sinus thrombosis may result if the infection gets out of hand. Or out of nose, in this case.

Please, for the sake of your family and your house, clean out your dryer every once in a while. This isn’t one of those things where you think, “Yeah, I’ll get to that eventually. How important can it be?” It’s very important, and not doing it can eventually prove fatal. Dryer lint will accumulate not only in the filter trap, but also in the exhaust vent and even the dryer itself. Sooner or later, this pile of highly flammable material may catch fire and burn your house down. The U.S. Fire Administration claims that five people die in the nearly 3,000 dryer-related fires that occur throughout the country each year.

The thing with hot tubs and warm baths is that they’re typically accompanied by alcohol. And as we all know, water plus alcohol does not a good combination make. Between 1999 and 2003, the Scripps Howard News Service conducted a study in which they analyzed mortality records from around the United States. They found that in the five-year period, 1,676 Americans were reported to have drowned in hot tubs and baths. This is an average of 335 per year, or about one hot tub or bath drowning per day. Next time you want to wind down in some warm water, maybe forgo the booze.

Humans can survive a lot of things, but we were meant to stay on the ground. Humans who travel 8,000 feet above sea level will start to suffer from altitude sickness owing to the lack of oxygen in the air. Most people will suffer from the likes of headaches and dizziness. But the further up you go, the worse it gets. Once you reach 26,000 feet, you’re entering the “death zone.” Once here, there’s not enough oxygen to sustain life, and humans begin suffering from fatal edemas of the lungs and brain. In fact, many mountaineering deaths are caused by extended stays in the death zone. It’s best to listen to your body; it’s trying to tell you something.

Humans are weird. We need water to survive, and our bodies require that we consume it every single day. But drink too much of it and our bodies go haywire before shutting down completely. Water intoxication is very real, and it occurs when excessive amounts of water throw off the body’s meticulous concentrations of electrolytes and sodium. The good news is that it takes an excessive amount of water to prove fatal. However, many people have died from water intoxication, and it’s typically the result of drinking contests or guzzling down enormous amounts while exercising. They say “all things in moderation,” and yes, that even includes water.

Obviously, Windex and bleach are fatal if consumed. We invented child locks for that reason. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about mixing Windex and bleach while cleaning. Windex contains something called ammonium hydroxide, which is known simply as “ammonia.” Saying that ammonia does not mix with bleach is a massive understatement. When the two combine, they release chloramine gas, which can quickly prove fatal in a small and poorly ventilated area. Here’s a golden rule - never get creative with household cleaners. They’ll mess you up.

Many things on this list are completely preventable. But not this. If you’re born too tall, then you’re born too tall. There’s nothing you can do about it. Unfortunately, this comes with a much shorter life expectancy. Being too tall increases your chances of developing various diseases and conditions, like bone infections and an irregular heartbeat. Of the three tallest people in recorded history, none lived to be older than twenty-six. The tallest human that we know of was Robert Wadlow, who stood 8’11’’ and weighed 439 pounds. He died in his sleep at just twenty-two owing to an infection that was exacerbated by an autoimmune disorder.

If there’s one thing to take away from this list, it’s that consuming too much of anything proves fatal. Too much salt can kill, provided you consume one gram per kilogram of body weight. And then there’s soda. Soda is obviously loaded with sugar, and too much sugar wreaks havoc on the body. One study published in JAMA Internal Medicine claimed that drinking just two glasses of soda per day increases the chance of premature death by 17%. Another published in Circulation proved that daily servings of soda increases the chance of cancer death by 5% and cardiovascular disease by 10%. If you want a long and healthy life, best stick to water. But remember, not too much of it!

The human body was meant to move. And if we don’t move enough, we die. Sitting too much is horrible for us, increasing the risks of diabetes, blood clots, weight gain, and dementia, just to name a few. But it can also be deadly over time, as it increases the chances of heart disease and cancer. One study published in Annals of Internal Medicine found that sitting for more than thirteen hours a day results in a 200% greater risk for early death than sitting for just eleven hours. It’s amazing what just two extra hours can do to us.