Do we really swallow insects and spiders when we sleep?

Post Reply New Topic

Is this actually the case?

Its largely an Urban myth that this happens as much as the pundits of it say it does.

Its likely that you may ingest something like a dust mite alot more than you think. But an actual spider, is more than unlikely.

When a spider pouch bursts open, hundreds, if not thousands of tiny spiders are sent off on their way, usually blowing through the air and shooting out webbing.

If you happen to be walking near a bursting spider sack, you may accidentally ingest a few dozen of these tiny spiders and not even know it.

You're not going to encounter this every day, but if it happens every so often in your lifetime, it may average out to taking in a spider or two every few years.

free protein without even the exertion of using cutlery.

We have tons of spiders here but, I think they might do more feasting on me when I sleep then I do of them.

When youre awake and dining on hotdogs and other sausages you ingest insect parts and rodent hairs all of the time because those things get into the meat in the processing at the plant. But no, you dont eat bugs in your sleep- except maybe dust mites. If you did - you wouldnt have to get up and go to work to earn a living. We all could live like sea anemonies- stay in one place and have our meals drop into our mouths!

Though on PBS there was a ghastly story about the opposite- an arab hired hand of an american expidition to find a lost city in Arabia got his face half eaten in his sleep by a desert spider while they were camping in the desert. So some spiders eat US in our sleep.

I think spiders are too smart to crawl into someone's mouth,if you blow on a insect it usually crawls away.Maybe a gnat or fly.Your more likely to get one in your ear( not a earwig),I got a moth in mine once.I could hear it's wings beating and it sounded huge,like Mothra.The doctor flushed it out with water and it was itty-bitty.They usually get stuck in the ear wax and then are gradually sloughed out.Once I smelled a flower and sniffed up a tiny-tiny wasp,Owww!! !

Yep. Many bugs are attracted to dark, damp areas, so it's thought that we swallow, even more than people think!

You should always ask yourself: "How could anyone possibly know this?"

There are so many factors that would be involved. For starters, how many spiders do you think are currently in the room where you sleep? Personally, for me, I would guess zero. I'm in the room right now, and there aren't many places to hide. Spiders are pretty obvious.

Here's another problem: you know how sometimes, you wake up because of a very slight disturbance? For example, once I woke up because a piece of paper had slipped off my desk and was touching my face. Well, if spiders occasionally get into your mouth and down your throat, don't you think that every once in a while, you would wake up while it was on your face or in your mouth?

Probably not if you are in REM sleep.

No matter how we may try to escape it, we are part of Nature.

I once accidentally ate a fly when I was a child, and though it disgusted me at the time, it had such a distinct flavor (I still remember it, it was that distinct) that I now realize why my cats love them, even though I hope to never ever eat another one. The weird thing was that the flavor was familiar to me at that time, as if I instinctively knew the taste of fly.

I think we probably do eat a lot more tiny insects and spiders than we think. They're also a part of the natural diets of animals that we eat.