How Many Spiders Do You Swallow a Year While You’re Sleeping?
WouterThe myth that you swallow spiders while sleeping is an urban legend that has no real basis. However, there are some people who believe it.
Some versions of this story claim that you can eat as many as eight spiders per year. Others say that you can eat as many as a dozen. These myths vary greatly, but the common consensus is that it is unlikely to happen.
This myth may have originated in 1999, when a list of trivia facts appeared in The Guardian. Its popularity has increased since then.
But is it true? If it were true, it would have to happen in a rare and specific way. That is, the spider would have to fall into the mouth of a sleeping person, if he or she had a mouth wide enough.
According to one entomologist, there are no documented examples of this. Another expert says there are zero spiders eaten. Even if there were, they would have a short life span.
While it is possible that a spider could fall in a sleeping person’s mouth, the chances of it lingering there for any length of time are practically zero. Besides, the probability that it would crawl into a human’s throat and swallow is also extremely low.
Most people don’t swallow during sleep. Instead, they snore to scare off eight-legged intruders. Spiders are arachnids, which means they have eight legs. They have a very well-tuned olfactory system.
In addition to the odds of a spider falling into a sleeping person’s mouth, there are other factors. A sleeping person has to be in a spider-rich area, and he or she must have a mouth that is open while sleeping.
