Why we feel everything in dreams except pain

Everyone knows the feeling of a vivid dream. You walk down a street and feel the chill of the wind. You embrace someone and experience warmth and love. Sometimes you are chased and feel fear or even sheer panic. Dreams are often so lifelike that upon waking you need a moment to decide whether it was real or not. Yet there is almost always one crucial element missing: pain. You can fall, be stabbed, or be in an accident in your dream, but you never feel the actual physical pain. How is it possible that our brain can so convincingly replicate emotions, temperature, and sensations, yet consistently leave pain out of the picture

The difference between pain and sensation

Our brain processes emotions and bodily experiences through different networks. Warmth, cold, or touch are simulated in dreams by the same brain regions that are active in real life. That is why the sensation feels real. Pain, however, is more complex. Pain is not just a signal created in the brain, but above all a protective mechanism. The body uses pain as an alarm system to signal damage and direct our behavior. Without real bodily input from nerve pathways and receptors, the brain cannot fully reproduce pain in the same way it does in waking life.

Why emotions are so strong in dreams

Dreams mostly occur during REM sleep. In this stage the amygdala, the brain region that regulates emotions, is highly active. This explains why fear, love, and joy can feel so intense. Because there is no physical reality imposing limits, the brain can exaggerate and amplify emotions. The hippocampus, which processes memories, often blends these emotions with fragments from real life. The result is bizarre yet believable scenarios.

The absence of pain in dreams

While emotions can be generated directly in the brain, pain depends on signals from the body. In dreams, that input is entirely missing. The brain can mimic the idea of pain, but not the physical experience. Sometimes people report feeling something similar, such as pressure or a shock. This happens because the brain creates a kind of “substitute illusion.” But since the alarm system has no real damage to respond to, the illusion stops at the thought of pain and never becomes complete.

What this reveals about the function of dreams

The fact that pain is absent provides a clue about the purpose of dreams. Dreams are not an exact copy of reality, but a safe simulation. The brain uses them to process emotions, work through problems, and organize memories. By experiencing threatening situations without pain, the brain can rehearse scenarios without risk. It is similar to a flight simulator for a pilot. Everything feels real, but the consequences are never fatal.

Conclusion

Dreams are a remarkable window into our inner world. We feel cold, warmth, love, and fear as if they were real, but pain is missing because the brain relies on physical signals for that experience. Dreams function more as an emotional and cognitive playground than as a precise copy of reality. That is why we can love deeply, run in fear, or feel joy in dreams, yet never truly be injured. The brain lets us practice, process, and experience, all without putting the body in danger.