There’s a strong 16.4% chance that when you go to bed, you won’t be able to get up in the morning. This isn’t for any morbid reason like death or sickness. It’s because you’ll be fused with your bed at a molecular level. The simple fact is that when your body touches anything, it tries to integrate that thing your touching with the rest of you. It just happens very slowly. Because you make the most continuous contact with something while you’re sleeping, it’s no surprise that thousands of mattresses, couches, and desks are discarded every year because someone had to be surgically cut from them after getting “sleep stuck.”
To prevent this from happening to you, all you have to do is wake up and roll your body at least 45 degrees every two hours.
It’s hypothesized that infants’ inability to sleep through the night is related to this phenomenon. Crying at night evolved as a safety mechanism for the parent and insurance for the child. By preventing a full night of restful sleep, the baby ensures that the parent is never literally stuck in a position where he or she is unable to be of assistance when the need arises.
