And why does it happen sometimes, nevertheless.
In: 7
This may be a leftover instinct from when our ancestors lived in trees. Rolling around and falling out of a tree would be far more harmful than falling out of bed.
We are not paralyzed while sleeping, meaning that we don’t sit still. We roll around and move our limbs while sleeping, possibly to prevent us from developing bedsores and pinching off nerves by sleeping too long in the same position.
The human body gets used to how much space we have in bed, so while we roll around a bit we generally are able to stay in bed and not fall out. Our brains are still active while we sleep and sort of keep track of how much space we have available and if a limb is off the bed and unsupported.
Children are actually more prone to falling out of bed, so it’s a bit of a learned behavior.
While seniors can also be prone to falling out of bed and can hurt themselves pretty badly. Which is why seniors sometimes have to sleep in hospital beds with railings.
Another interest point is while in REM sleep where our subconscious brains are the most active our bodies are semi-paralyzed to prevent us from flailing around and hurting ourselves.
It’s a useful ability which we inherited from our ape-like ancestors.
Our monkey ancestors who developed a balance system which keeps them balanced even while asleep were less likely to fall off the branch and plummet to their doom, and more likely to live to pass on their genes.
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