Why do we not feel pain under general anesthesia? Is it the same for regular sleep?

Question

I’m curious what mechanism is at work here.

Edit: Thanks for the responses. I get it now. Obviously I am still enjoying the discussion RE: the finer points like memory, etc.

In: Biology

Answer 1

Just to add a little bit to the other, very good posts: I learned in a class about general and local anesthesia, that the surgeon will use a local even if you are under general anesthesia. This is because your body still responds to pain stimuli even if you are under. So the numbing is to keep your heart rate and respiration from increasing in response to the pain receptors triggering your autonomic nervous system