Truth or myth … do we really swallow spiders in our sleep?
Despite the nursery rhyme about the old lady who swallowed a spider that “wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,” we do NOT really swallow spiders in our sleep.
It is a complete myth.
Burke Museum busts the myth with this explanation:
“For a sleeping person to swallow even one live spider would involve so many highly unlikely circumstances that for practical purposes we can rule out the possibility. No such case is on formal record anywhere in scientific or medical literature.”
Think about it …
Does it make sense for a spider to crawl into your mouth? Would you crawl into the mouth of a predator that could end your life with a single swallow?
Of course not.
And while spiders don’t have the same brain capacity as humans, they certainly have a sense of self-preservation. They run away from things bigger than they are, not straight into their mouths.
Even while we are asleep, spiders perceive us as a threat. We make noises, like snoring, talking in our sleep, or even just breathing. We move around to get comfortable.
It’s just not in their nature for spiders to get close enough to a human for that human to swallow them while asleep.