Researchers at Oxford University have discovered what might be somewhat surprising findings about what types of people are the least afraid of passing away.
One of the reasons that people put off estate planning is they are afraid to die. Most people do not think that they will hasten their own deaths by planning for their estates. However, that was a common superstition in the distant past.
Estate planning makes people think about what will happen after they pass away. For many people, that leads to think about the act of death itself, and they are deathly afraid of it. Unfortunately, that causes some people to delay estate planning for too long and they pass away without estate plans.
Oxford University researchers have analyzed what types of people are the most and least afraid of dying.
The “least afraid” list includes those people who are extremely religious and, interestingly enough, atheists. The analysis shows that those on the “most afraid” of death list are those people who are mildly religious and who may only join a religious group for social and economic reasons.
The Daily Mail reported these findings in "How afraid are YOU of dying? Researchers say atheists and the most religious are the least scared."
Of course, people cannot act on this information to make themselves have less fear of death. It is difficult to force yourself to be more or less religious than you are.
However, those who have put off estate planning due to a fear of passing away, can use this information to understand that their fear is normal. That in and of itself might help some overcome their fear long enough to do the necessary estate planning.
Reference: Daily Mail (March 24, 2017) "How afraid are YOU of dying? Researchers say atheists and the most religious are the least scared."
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