Feeling Pain in dreams

[MsElizabeth]

I've experienced pain in a decent amount of my dreams (non-lucid). Why is it that I feel pain that feels so real?

[dutchraptor]

Because you remember pain to be intense. When do you really remember feeling pain, I bet you don't remember the times you tapped off something or had a slight cramp in your foot. We remember the moments that are intense and memorable. Non lucid dreams are riddled with strong emotions and intense memories and in general most dreams are closer to being negative than positive. To make the argument even stronger I'm willing to be that just like in real life, you don't remember the times you felt a light pain in dreams, only the intense times. So the answer to your question is that you are focusing specifically on the strongest memories of pain, giving you the illusion that all pain is extreme in dreams, in reality your probably just missing the amount of times you don't feel extreme pain.

[Sospiro]

all i can say is that pain is manifested in the mind in your dreams, and your mind definitely exaggerates or undermines things that are/aren't painful. I've also heard something along the lines of your mind cannot tell the difference between waking life and dreams which is why it registers as actual pain. Your brain sends signals to the body so you can actually experience the physical sensation in your dream.