Do you really swallow a bunch of spiders when you sleep?

Has anyone ever told you that you swallow spiders while sleeping? This repulsive tale has been weaving its way around for years, but before you invest in a full-face sleeping mask, let's unravel this web of misunderstanding.

What is definitely true is that there are several variations of this so-called “fact.” Some say you swallow five, eight, or ten spiders per year, while others claim it’s an average of 20 spiders per lifetime. In Pennsylvania, it is said that we all swallow one pound of spiders in our lifetimes, which would be equivalent to around 20,000 spiders, according to the Burke Museum.

Image: SPIDER IN MOUTH!/JesseAndMike/Youtube

On top of all the shaky stats, spider experts will tell you that this idea is a total urban legend… and chances are, it’s not the first time they’ve had to dispel the myth. Here is their reasoning…

Penn State spider expert Michael Skvarla told SELF Magazine that spiders typically found at home usually stay as close as they can to their webs. The few predatory species also tend to hang out in undisturbed locations like closets or basements.

Even if you have spiders prowling around your house in search of their next snack, beds are not great hunting grounds. That’s because there aren’t many tasty snacks for spiders… unless you have bed bugs, in which case that should be your main concern.

Although you are a large chunk of meat, Bill Shear, a biology professor at Hampden-Sydney College, told Scientific American that most spiders regard humans as “big rocks.” “We’re so large that we’re really just part of the landscape,” he said.

All the spiders in the world weigh as much as 478 Titanics, according to research published in Science of Nature. And while they could theoretically eat every human on earth, luckily, their 400 million to 800 million tons of prey per year mostly consists of other insects or small vertebrates. The Mayo Clinic adds that spiders usually don’t bite humans unless threatened.

People who sleep with their mouths open are most likely snoring. According to Rob Crawford of the Burke Museum, snoring creates vibrations, which would just act to scare off spiders. “Vibrations are a big slice of spiders’ sensory universe… A sleeping person is not something a spider would willingly approach,” he told Scientific American.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, spiders are so sensitive to vibrations that even if you’re not snoring, your heartbeat also gives off vibrations that would likely be enough to keep spiders away.

Recent research has revealed that while spiders don’t have ears per se, they use the hair on their legs to sense vibrations that they can hear meters away. This 2016 finding overturned the idea that spiders mostly relied on a sense of touch for navigating the world. And yes, all spiders do have hair.

Human biology also makes this myth extra absurd. For one, when you’re sleeping you would still probably feel a spider crawling on your face. “I experienced this when, as a college student, I slept on a mattress directly on the floor and slapped a spider on my face in my sleep,” spider expert Skvarla told SELF.

Even if you don’t feel the spider, your mouth is open, and it decides to go exploring down your throat, you still probably wouldn’t swallow it. NYU sleep expert Erich Voigt told SELF that the gag reflex would likely kick in, as it acts to expel any foreign body that reaches the back of your throat when you’re not naturally swallowing.

Voigt added that if the gag reflex failed to stop it, you might naturally start coughing to expel the creepy crawly. If that fails, chances are it probably wouldn’t get past your esophageal sphincter, which is closed unless you’re intentionally swallowing.

Despite the biological facts of both humans and spiders, experts admit that it is physically possible for you to swallow a spider. But it is exceptionally rare, and it certainly isn’t something that you can expect to occur several times per year.

Image: SPIDER IN MOUTH!/JesseAndMike/Youtube

While you can breathe a sigh of relief on the mouth front, the bad news is that spiders are more likely to crawl into a less protected and noisy orifice — your ears! Sleep expert Voigt said that he has even seen spiders make webs in the ear canal.

Image: SPIDER CRAWLS OUT OF WOMAN'S EAR/ Newsflare/Youtube

Perhaps more disgustingly, cockroaches are the most common foreign object that people need to have removed from their ears, according to a study from Los Angeles hospitals. In fact, ears do attract cockroaches with their smell and cozy conditions.