Does belief in the afterlife have a downside?

I don't know if anyone has ever thought about this before but belief in how wonderful the afterlife is might give one an incentive to hurry up and get to the other side, at least subconsciously.

For example, let's say you discover you have cancer and face a painful and challenging set of treatments via radiation and chemotherapy, would you really push yourself to go through with all that misery knowing that if you didn't treat the disease, you could leave this dull world for the exciting worlds beyond? Or another example, perhaps knowing that death is only the beginning of life, maybe you might have the courage and desire to engage in more risk. That could take the form of riding a motorcycle more, climbing mountains, skydiving, etc. After all, why not live at little more now?

I'm not advocating dumb or risky behavior but I do think there are consequences of our beliefs. Technically, you could commit slow term suicide by eating nothing but Twinkies and pizza or you could do it by smoking. If there is a huge reward waiting for you when you die...well shy not?

Your thoughts?