Do we swallow insects and spiders in our sleep?

Dremmer

Is it true that we swallow insects and spiders when we're sleeping?

Pythagorean

I've heard this stated as a statistic before, but I've only heard it "on the street".

Something like: Every person's mouth, on average, gets about seven rodents/spiders/insect visits a year.

I'm curious if it's true, too. Somehow I doubt there's a trustworthy number associated with it. You'd have to do sleep studies all year round in somebody's house (as opposed to a controlled environment).

Ryan_m_b

There's never been any real study on it as far as I can tell, such a statistic would differ not only from country to country but from house to house. Searching around different websites shows many that have people asking 'is it true' and 'where did that statistic come from' but nothing is forthcoming. It strongly sounds like an urban myth, spiders don't exactly roam the bedroom only at night and I would find it extremely odd if one thought crawling into a breathing wet hole was a good idea.

JaredJames

Depends how thirsty you are...

I have no doubt it happens (come on, 6 billion on the planet and you're going to tell me no one has ever had a bug crawl in their mouth during sleep?), but I can't say I'm convinced by the whole 'statistics' side of things.

Ryan_m_b

Lol I was hardly suggesting that out of all 6 billion people currently living and the tens of billions that have lived before that no-one has eaten a spider in their sleep! I really can't see that being a regular behaviour for most spiders however

JaredJames

Well you'd think after one get's stuck in the bath they'd start to learn - but hey, looks like they just ain't that clever.

Personally, although I have nothing against them, I don't make a habit of allowing them to remain in the house.

Ryan_m_b

Me neither, I'm not too tolerant of things with more than 4 legs....

JaredJames

Even then, I'm only allowing 2 max in the house at any one time!

jim mcnamara

http://www.fda.gov/food/guidancecomp.../ucm056174.htm

Check the wheat flour line near the bottom.

This data is the expected insect frass and body parts in food. Most people are not aware of this. On the whole I'd worry about this concept more than some statistic garnered from the ether. 50g of flour is a few slices of bread....

Proton Soup

i'm skeptical of swallowing spiders in my sleep. i had one actually wake me up from my sleep. and the reaction was visceral. i jumped out of bed, immediately turned the lights on, chased it down and killed it. and that is with me being a deep sleeper, slow riser, and no real fear of spiders. it's as if there is an interrupt somewhere running a "bug crawling on skin" subroutine, and it has full override.

Pythagorean

But how many times have you woken up (after brushing the night before) with some strange taste in your mouth and not realized it was a mostly digested insect that you mowed on in your sleep?

insects + spiders.

It doesn't need to be regular behavior. Most people have a lot of insects and spiders living near and migrating through their living area over the years (whether they notice them or not); You're bound to have irregular behavior in a large enough population.

Also, factor in carbon-dioxide seeking insects (such as mosquitoes, my state bird)

Not that I think it happens to everybody seven times a year, though...

Pythagorean

Here's the spider one: false

http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/spiders.asp

Ryan_m_b

There have been investigations of this claim and as far as can be told it seems made up. There is no PC Processional magazine and no Lisa Holst, very odd really that the debunk has been debunked.

http://www.eightspiders.com/2008/08/...t-spiders.html