There’s a long-told story that we eat eight spiders a year in our sleep – and this belief has become so ingrained in popular culture that we now hold it as fact. But is there any truth to this story?
Do we eat spiders in our sleep?
This tale, experts reassure us, is entirely untrue. Not only do we not eat an average of eight spiders a year – we probably eat none.
Dr Matt Wilkinson from Cambridge University’s department of zoology told the BBC: “It is a myth – though one that many people accept as reality.” It’s not clear where this myth originated, but it’s become cemented in public consciousness – and once that happens, it perpetuates the myth.
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Ok – so why don’t we eat them then?
Experts believe that most people would wake up if a spider crossed their face, before it had an opportunity to enter their mouth. Those eight legs are really quite ticklish, after all.
Dr Geoff Oxford, honorary secretary of the British Arachnological Society, also spoke to the BBC about this untrue spidery tale. “If someone’s sleeping, they’re breathing hot air in and out,” he says. “Why on earth would a spider go in? They just don’t do that.”
Plus, even though humans are relatively quiet as they sleep – they make a lot of noise compared to spiders, with our heartbeat and breaths creating vibrations. Most spiders are sensitive to such vibrations, so would avoid humans as they pass through the landscape.
So it’s unlikely, right?
Yes, it’s very unlikely we will ever swallow a spider in our sleep. Sure, you might be unlucky and catch a leg or two – but it’s maybe a once-in-a-lifetime event, if that. Certainly not eight a year.
More about spiders
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- Meet the purse-web spider, Britain's very own tarantula
- Do jumping spiders dream?
Top image credit: Getty Images