Myth or truth: Do we really swallow spiders during sleep?

We know that spiders can, for example, use people's ears as "home, " and everyone must have heard statistics about how many of these pets humans swallow in their sleep, right?

There are those who claim that the number reaches dozens per year, while others guarantee that only four of these pets will stop in our mouths at rest. Also, some say that this story of eating spiders while sleeping is a myth.

According to BBC's Henry Nicholls, with this vagueness in mind, the news portal decided to ask netizens on the BBC Earth Facebook page if they believed that people actually swallow spiders in their sleep, and how many they would be.

Evidence

According to Henry, medical records from around the world show that there have been cases of people who have suffered spider bites during their sleep - and not a few - including the dreaded brown spiders that we already talked about here at Mega Curioso. Incident studies have shown that most attacks occur on the arms, legs, hands, and feet, but sometimes they occur on the face.

Web surfers who visited the BBC's Facebook page seem to confirm what the studies found. One of the reported cases, for example, was a person who woke up with thousands of pricks on his face after an ootheca broke out at night releasing a worm of spiders on his bed. In other words, there is no shortage of evidence that these animals roam our beds occasionally.

But can they get in your mouth?

While there are many articles out there that testify that human-related statistics swallowing spiders in sleep are just myths - you can check one out here, one here and one here, the three in English - the BBC has compiled a few reports that contradict these publications.

One of the netizens reported that in the morning, while brushing his teeth, he tasted a little weird and, on spitting, saw some paws that looked like an arachnid. Another said that one day, upon waking, he noticed something strange in his mouth and discovered that it was a small spider. Did these reports make you nervous? Because you don't have to worry - or go to sleep with your mouth gagged!

No reason to panic

In addition to gathering reports from netizens, BBC staff also spoke with some experts on the topic to reassure the most afflicted arachnophobes. Professionals consulted include Dave Clarke, who heads the invertebrate department at the London Zoo. According to him, most predators simply would not risk attacking a larger animal simply not to risk the worst.

In the case of spiders, Clarke explained that they are supersensitive to heat and vibration, so they are unlikely to venture into unsuspecting humans. Also, spiders have no particular interest in us, and the encounters are really accidental and rare. However, this does not mean that they never occur - they are just very sporadic.

* Posted on 12/03/2015

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