Eli5: if I get into a martial art and every time I suffer the same beating and over the time ir hurts less. Am I becoming more hardened or losing pain receptor?

Question

Eli5: if I get into a martial art and every time I suffer the same beating and over the time ir hurts less. Am I becoming more hardened or losing pain receptor?

In: 8

Answer 1

Neither: Your body is now expecting this kind of “trauma” (because yes, that is considered trauma), and will allow less “pain message” to be felt from those expected hits.

Sure, this could be a sort of “hardening”, but you’re still receiving the same trauma, and it technically hurts the same.