8 Common Fears You (Probably) Don't Need to Worry About

There’s a difference between a fear and a full-blown phobia. The first is considered a natural reaction to a real or perceived threat, and the latter is an irrational response to something that’s not really a risk. But some fears feel like they fall somewhere in the middle. They’re real threats; they’re just not likely to happen. Fueled by media, movies, and myth, these fears don’t pose much potential peril when compared with everyday dangers like driving a car or smoking.

There are things we’re all a little (or lot) afraid of, but the numbers tell us we don’t need to be. Read on for more statistically soothing details about some of the most common, but not commonly occurring, concerns.

1. Being Bitten by a Shark
2. Getting Hit by an Asteroid
3. Contracting a Brain-Eating Amoeba
4. Crashing in an Airplane
5. Getting Struck by Lightning
6. Getting Sucked into Quicksand
7. Experiencing an Elevator Free-Fall
8. Being Buried Alive

Being Bitten by a Shark

Chances: 1 in 4,332,817 of dying by shark in your lifetime.

Thanks to Jaws, two musical notes still strike a chord of terror in many people. Prior to the movie’s release in 1975, however, people weren’t all that afraid of going into the water. And before the 20th century, people weren’t spending much recreational time in the water at all. 

Scientists didn’t seriously study sharks until the 1940s when U.S. military operations in marine environments made them more of a concern. Through a secret program called “Shark Chaser,” the U.S. Navy created a chemical repellant that was handed out to personnel until the 1970s. Though it was largely ineffective, with users stating sharks seemed unconcerned, it was considered better than nothing. 

Yet data collected since the 1950s suggests shark repellant may not be totally necessary. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), established in 1958, is the world’s only scientific database of shark attacks. Its researchers are currently investigating approximately 6800 cases covering a time period from the 1500s to today. In 2024 specifically, the ISAF reviewed 88 alleged shark-human interactions, confirming 47 “unprovoked” bites and only 24 “provoked” bites, despite millions of people swimming, surfing, and boating in the seas each year.

So we’re far more likely to be struck by lightning (more on that later) than bitten by a shark—and they have more reason to fear us than vice versa. Humans kill an estimated 100 million sharks each year according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, making us the more seriously sinister species.

Getting Hit by an Asteroid

Chances: 1 in 1,600,000 of dying by asteroid.

The only person known to have been hit by an asteroid (technically, it was a meteorite) was a 34-year-old woman named Ann Hodges, who was bonked while sleeping in bed in 1954. She survived with a giant bruise and an article in LIFE magazine. A car, a Connecticut dining room, and the Russian city of Chelyabinsk have also been damaged by falling space debris in the last century.

Some scientists claim we’re overdue for a strike of significant size. The odds go up and down for specific asteroids: Researchers recently upgraded one named 2024 YR4 from a 1-in-83 to a 1-in-43 likelihood of hitting Earth in 2032 (which is still a solid  97.7 percent chance of a miss)—then downgraded the odds to near zero. Generally, we’re below a 1 percent chance of impact for any known near-Earth objects (NEOs); there’s also a 70 percent chance of such an object landing in the ocean and a 25 percent chance of it avoiding a heavily populated area. According to a 2022 study in the journal Futures, the overall probability of a giant, humanity-obliterating impact is between 0.03 to 0.3 on a scale of zero to one, with zero meaning it will definitely not happen and one meaning it absolutely will. 

Contracting a Brain-Eating Amoeba

Chances: Less than 1 in 34,000,000 in the U.S.

Having your brain invaded by a killer amoeba is a terrifying prospect. The one-celled organism Naegleria fowleri causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which infects and then destroys brain tissue and is nearly always fatal. However, the CDC recorded only 164 cases in the U.S. between 1962 and 2023.

This amoeba lives in soil and warm freshwater, including lakes, rivers, ponds, hot springs, and contaminated tap water. It isn’t found in properly treated water, such as swimming pools, or the saltwater of seas and oceans. You’re not in danger of swallowing it. 

To breach the brain, water containing N. fowleri must go up the nose, so this usually occurs after someone submerges their head in a body of fresh water or perhaps rinses their sinuses with a tool like a neti pot (using water that wasn’t boiled first). Infections are even more likely after the weather’s been hot for a while. Warming temperatures related to climate change are prompting greater concern among public health officials, but PAM remains rare, and people can take simple precautions like using a nose clip when swimming.

Crashing in an Airplane

Chances: About 1 in 13.7 million passenger boardings.

Studies have suggested that up to 40 percent of people in industrialized countries have a fear of flying. Despite the turbulent tales and scary headlines, flying is still the safest form of travel, much safer than driving a car. So why are so many so afraid?

There are several factors likely at play: From a fear of heights (commercial flights operate at 30,000 to 42,000 feet above sea level), to the lack of personal control (we passengers certainly aren’t piloting the aircraft), to safety (such as the plane’s manufacturer and its recent safety record), there’s more than just flying when it comes to flying. And we all hear about it when there’s an aviation-related accident.

There’s comfort in the statistics, which keep getting better. From 1968 to 1977, the odds of an issue were 1 per 350,000 boardings, which improved to 1 per 750,000 from 1978 to 1987. Safely arriving by plane has continued to advance over several decades, demonstrating that Moore’s law of aviation—positing that air travel has become twice as safe each decade since the 1960s—is substantially true.

Getting Struck by Lightning

Chances: Less than 1 in 1 million in a given year.

Lightning strikes are rare, and despite a single spark being comprised of several million volts (in comparison, the electrical current in your home is only 120 volts), most who are struck survive.

According to the CDC, 40 million lightning strikes touch down in the U.S. annually, but the odds of being socked by earthbound electricity are low, with the likelihood of getting hit more than once exponentially less. And even without knowing a bolt of lightning is going to strike a clock tower at precisely 10:04 p.m. on a specific Saturday night, we can certainly spot the weather conditions that fuel lightning and take the National Weather Service’s advice: “when thunder roars, go indoors.” If you can’t get inside, the agency suggests other actions, like getting low on the ground and avoiding metal objects [PDF].

Shenandoah National Park ranger Roy C. Sullivan claimed a not-so-coveted record precisely because he didn’t heed any of the above tips. He holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the most lightning strikes—a total of seven between 1942 and 1977. Based in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Sullivan worked outside near lookout towers and the like in a state that receives an average of 35 to 45 thunderstorm days per year.

Getting Sucked into Quicksand

Chances: Almost none.

According to journalist Daniel Engber writing in Slate, movies from the 1960s were most saturated with killer quicksand, featuring in 35 films. Although it was a popular method of dispatching villains and dealing heroes a death-defying opportunity, in reality, it’s uncommon to stumble onto sinking sand. If asked what to do about it, most people would probably suggest staying still and not struggling, but science says it wouldn’t really happen the way we’ve seen in the movies.

Quicksand is denser than we are, so we float instead of immediately sink. Experts recommend distributing your body’s weight over a wider area by leaning backward and thus slowing the sinking process. Moving carefully, you can eventually work your way out of the muck, but it takes time. The force required to extract your foot at a rate of less than half an inch per second is roughly the same as what’s needed to lift 3000 pounds.

The real danger of quicksand is due to where it’s found. Because quicksand is generally comprised of sodden sand or clay near a body of water, like a river delta, being stuck for too long may result in drowning from a tide coming in and water levels rising. As 20-year-old man drowned in Alaska in 2023 after being irretrievably stuck in silt and overrun by the tide.

Experiencing an Elevator Free-Fall

Chances: Nearly zero.

Action movies also have made us afraid of elevators, but modern machines have multiple safety systems—backup cables, emergency braking systems, and shaft stoppers—making accidents rare. Recent events involving fatal elevator free-falls have occurred at construction sites or mines, rather than among the general public in office buildings.

Elevators come in two models: traction elevators and hydraulic elevators. Using steel cables, pulleys, and counterweights, traction elevators have a speed-sensing mechanism, and each cable is strong enough on its own to hold the car. Hydraulic elevators use a piston jack and they aren’t frequently found in buildings taller than six stories. But if the worst comes to pass in any elevator and you start to free-fall, the recommendation is to lie flat on your back on the floor of the car and hope for the best.

Betty Lou Oliver, a 20-year-old elevator operator, was another dubious Guinness World Record holder. In 1945, Oliver was injured when a B-25 bomber accidentally struck the Empire State Building, causing Betty to free-fall for 75 stories (approximately 1000 feet) in the car. She bottomed out in the basement and suffered injuries to her neck, back, and pelvis, but she recovered after a few months in the hospital.

Being Buried Alive

Chances: Close to zero, but not zero.

Again, movies. But also, reality. The fear of being buried alive was so common in the 18th and 19th centuries that coffins were equipped with “I’m actually alive” alarms. Allegedly, embalming and cremation became popular means to avoid being buried alive. 

While there is no evidence of anyone being buried alive in the past several years, medical workers have failed to accurately determine death as recently as 2023. There’s at least one medical explanation for such rare cases, called “the Lazarus effect,” where a person is unresponsive to CPR, they stop breathing, and their heart stops beating—only for them to spontaneously revive minutes or sometimes hours later. Since being described in medical literature for the first time in 1982, only 76 cases have been reported worldwide (as of 2022). 

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