Why can you feel everything but pain in dreams?

Kim Taehyung

You shine brighter than anyone ✨
Veteran
Joined
Nov 30, 2006
Messages
1,751
Age
35
Location
Illinois
Gil
14
I've just thought of this. Nearly every dream that has me physically interacting with something, I can feel myself touching it. Just about every sense, to be honest, is in dreams...except for pain. I mean, I had a dream where I was kissed last night, and I could feel it like it was real. But when anything that would cause me pain would come up, I'd either not feel it or just wake up.

Am I the only one that has this, or is this pretty much a fact?
 
It really depends on the dream. There are Lucid dreams for example, that is you interacting, living the dream itself. I actually can feel pain in my dreams, but it is not as pronounced. I usually feel emotions in my dream. Also that feeling when you fall? That I feel, but I never felt pain o bad I woke up. This really depends on who you are and what kind of dream you are having...
 
I don't dream often. (Or rather I do, but I never remember them, so it's practically the same as not having them.) However, when I do, I feel it. In fact, if I trip and fall in my dream, you'll see my body shake. (I've caught myself and a few people have seen me do it.)

I'm not sure if I'm the only one though. I think people handle dreams differently to be honest. :hmmm:
 
Yeah, the dream felt real. It was like I was actually face to face with the guy. Right in the middle of a McDonald's, too, for some reason. :hmmm: But anyway, I could feel the rush of excitement and everything. It was that type of dream.

But for some odd reason, I've never had the feeling of pain in my dreams. Something that would be potentially painful I usually somehow avoid it or wake up in general.
 
I agree with Rincewind, I also think people handle dreams on a different way.
Whenever I dream I always feel everything, emotions, touches and pain and sometimes I can just control my dream. I've had a period I constantly dreamt I got shot or stabbed or something like that and that was horrible. Be actually glad you don't feel pain in dreams because when I feel it in my dreams it hurts bad. xD
 
I actually have painfull dreams that i feel. I even have dreams that if i get scratched or cut it will apear on my skin. It actually hurts when i awake. Its weared tho?
 
I've died quite often in my dreams, sometimes brutally.. but never have I felt it. It's odd that mention it, but then again you never feel anything sexual either.. sooo that's all I got.

I have felt pain once, but that's because I fell 10 feet and hit the floor as I was falling off a cliff in my dream.
 
I've died quite often in my dreams, sometimes brutally.. but never have I felt it. It's odd that mention it, but then again you never feel anything sexual either.. sooo that's all I got.

I have felt pain once, but that's because I fell 10 feet and hit the floor as I was falling off a cliff in my dream.


That's funny. I was always told if you die in your dream, you die IRL. And you're wrong about not feeling anything sexual, haven't you ever had a wet dream growing up?

I can feel everything in my dreams, I don't ever remember feeling pain though. But like everyone else said, I guess we just handle them different. We all dream every night, but most of us can't remember them and even if you do, they seem quite easy to forget as the day goes on.

I think our dreams sometimes kind of mold into what we're doing while we're asleep. Like say, you hit your hand on the headboard of the bed, well in your dream you see someone hitting you in the hand. If someone's talking to you, it kind of fits into your dream....dreams are weird...
 
Yeah, the dream felt real. It was like I was actually face to face with the guy. Right in the middle of a McDonald's, too, for some reason

I hear that's the most romantic place.

It's odd that mention it, but then again you never feel anything sexual either.. sooo that's all I got.

I've felt sexual things in dreams before.. usually with lesbos... but that's just my latent lesbianism screaming to come out.

Rather on topic though, I've never felt pain. I remember specifically being stabbed in the palm, looking at it... and not feeling anything.

What I do feel though, is when I dislocate my leg in my sleep. Sometimes if I sleep awkwardly, my leg will dislocate and I'll feel it in the dream, and I'll wake up simultaneously as it's dislocating.

....it's a very uncomfortable feeling.
 
all i ever dream about is death, destruction, and violence. Never really anything about sex. I've died in most ways imaginable in my dream, feeling every bit of pain.
 
if i have a lucid dream, il feel everything... my dreams are fucked up though, you only need to ask my boyfriend, i confuse my dreams with memory, I was convinced he had a job in some bar we'd been too (ive told afew people as well xD), when he didnt, ive also been convinced a house I lived in when i was younger got broken into - when it wasnt, felt every emotion - mostly fear.. same with my dad, he had/s mental dreams as well, thought his mate got hit by a bus, even went and told the kids mum, but turns out the kid was alive and well

Im still convinced, these, and other events were real, but Ive been informed otherwise. Drems affect people differently, infact, I dreamed I smoked last night, and for the first time in months, Ive craved a cigarette > _<
 
Last edited:
everytime i have a dream i would think its real,i only feel emotions,never pain.I feel fear usually in my dreams,like animals trying to kill me,or killers,sometimes i have romantic dreams idk why lol
 
i know my dreams arent real
but especially when i was younger, I've mixed my dreams into my memories, so i think they really happened
I am still freaked out by some of the dreams ive had, I had really bad ones when i was younger, I guess thats why i am the way i am now
 
I know I've had dreams in which I was injured and/or killed, and I know that they were unpleasant experiences and I was not having any fun, but I don't think I've ever recalled feeling pain. At least, there aren't any instances of it that I can remember at the moment.

On the subject of dying in dreams, though, I read an interesting article online a few years ago (though it was actually about Metal Gear Solid 2... I can't remember why he started talking about dying in dreams) that I thought submitted an interesting hypothesis. The author pointed out that whenever you have a dream about dying, you almost always wake up RIGHT before you die. He thought that this was because when you dream, your brain creates scenarios based on your experiences. But since you've never experienced death, your brain doesn't know how to accurately emulate the sensation, and so you can't actually get so far as to experience death in your dreams. I always thought that was a really neat idea, and it seems to make sense.
 
Okay, already, I'll debunk Tyler's sexual dream...thing. It may not be the case for him, but that was the exact type of dream that I had last night. and I felt it all. It totally felt real. And let's just say: It was with someone who would be quite impossible to be like this with in real life. But I was so convinced that it was real, I woke up thinking, "Oh, my God. Did I really kiss him?" and all that, because I felt it. The whole thing was indescribable. It was amazing.
 
The author pointed out that whenever you have a dream about dying, you almost always wake up RIGHT before you die. He thought that this was because when you dream, your brain creates scenarios based on your experiences. But since you've never experienced death, your brain doesn't know how to accurately emulate the sensation, and so you can't actually get so far as to experience death in your dreams. I always thought that was a really neat idea, and it seems to make sense.

I find this interesting and it makes sense and explains how some people do not experience pain in dreams if the type of pain is something they have not experienced before, but I also believe that dreams can simulate a guess as to how you might feel dying or in intense pain and attempts to do this for some people.

I once had a dream where I was on a rollercoaster and we all had to press a button in order to stay alive as we went around the track. The last person to push the button (I think it was) after a beep was killed on the rollercoaster. I'm not clear on how people died but it seemed to be that they somehow popped all of your veins and you bled internally. After going round the track for a while I failed to press the button in time and it happened to me. It wasn't anything like it would actually feel (I'm guessing) but I really did feel an unpleasant sensation across my whole body, and it really did feel as if I was bleeding internally. I quickly had a numbing sensation and it felt as if all my blood was draining out. It was absolutely horrible as I'm really wimpy when it comes to blood.

So in this instance, while my mind couldn't possibly know how it really felt it still decided to kill me off, and in such a way that it would lose its effect if it just suddenly jumped me to consciousness at the last moment as this was a slower death and I wasn't even sure that I was going to die or that I had pressed the button last until that sensation occurred. It seemed as if it just guessed what it would feel like and made me experience that instead.

I'm not sure if I'd call that pain though... More of a VERY uncomfortable feeling, but it was so uncomfortable that it was definitely an attempt at pain.
 
But since you've never experienced death, your brain doesn't know how to accurately emulate the sensation, and so you can't actually get so far as to experience death in your dreams. I always thought that was a really neat idea, and it seems to make sense.

That's a really good point actually. But like Argor said, maybe your brain simulates what you think dying might be like. In my case, everything goes black and I feel like I'm floating.

I have felt pain per se, but not really in the traditional 'ouch' sense.

I remember being attacked somewhere with some people by some... other people. :hmmm: It was a long time ago so I can't remember fine details but I think they were gangsters. I do remember being shot several times and I had the feeling that you get when you watch a disgusting video or when see something horrid like animal cruelty (if you find it horrid that is like I do). Just a weird queasy feeling in my legs and in other parts of my body but much more intense.
I also had a falling dream and I had the same feeling just before I landed and woke up IRL.

So I would say for some people at least, you do feel pain, just in a different way. I imagine your dream senses are going to be different to your actual senses you use in real life.
 
I have felt pain once, but that's because I fell 10 feet and hit the floor as I was falling off a cliff in my dream.

I always seem to have these sort of dreams.

It feels like I'm falling from up way high and I'm actually only falling off the bed.

I don't recall ever feeling pain in my dreams, though I've noticed that when I feel sick, (have a sick tummy or something) that the pain will incorparate itself into my dream and then I'll wake up. >.<
 
Ohhh I remember feeling pain once comne to think of it, its theone time I actually recal dying in a dream as well! (And also oneof the reasons I didnt play FFXII for 3 moths after being stuck on the Leviathan <_<) Anyway, cba going into the whole dream, but I was basically stabbed and died, it was a most displeasing dream. But like, the instant I died, the dream played again from a certain point, and played out in a different way...I think it happened on a loop afew times actually...Im fuzzy on it now though, it was ages ago. I doubt I felt what being stabbed in the guts would actually feel like, but I certainly recal it not feeling nice at all... Don't think I've ever been more terrified in my life...well, dreams :8F:
 
I sometimes feel pain in my dreams but it's never excruciating. I've felt small pains like getting stung by a bee but I haven't felt any extreme pains like that of being stabbed.

The pain that I do feel is quite often a result of something that is actually happening, for example, one time I dreamed that I broke my hand then when I woke up I was lying on it. My mind just exaggerates and/or reinterprets the pain that I am actually feeling. But on that note, I've never experienced any extreme pain whilst dreaming, it's more about sensations really.

Shu said:
I've died quite often in my dreams, sometimes brutally.. but never have I felt it. It's odd that mention it, but then again you never feel anything sexual either.. sooo that's all I got.
I've felt sexual stuff in my dreams before..and now that I think about it, it makes me wonder what the hell my body is actually doing.
 
Back
Top