Eli5: how does our pain tolerance increases when we grow up?
In: Biology
Primarily experience. Think about it this way. If you are a baby and receive a vaccine, it is more than possible that that little poke is the most painful thing you have ever experienced in your life. As an adult, receiving a vaccine seems mildly uncomfortable, because you have experienced much worse (ex. blunt force trauma, broken bones, childbirth, etc.).
Another likely explanation is an evolutionary one. Human children are pretty helpless, especially at very young ages, and they need their parents to be attentive to stay alive. A child is motivated to vocalize pain because it helps them keep their parents attuned to their needs and potential dangers. That’s to say that they don’t necessarily *experience* the pain as worse than it is, but they believe it is.
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