Sleep is Painless?

[sdi]

I was following up on a reference I came across to Plutarch, a part of which reads, "therefore death is sometimes accompanied by pains, sleep always by pleasure."

Is it a common belief that sleep is free of pain? It is not my experience: some of the worst pain I have experienced has been in dreams; for example, of being shot by a firearm.

Comments

[k_a_nitz]

FWIW I've never had pain from sleep. I wouldn't say it is always accompanied by pleasure though.

[jprussell]

I wonder if Plutarch and other Greeks thought of "sleep" and "dreaming" as different, or if the word for "sleep" used here and in Plato's Apology (where he gives his famous "either/or" for what to expect from death and says either is preferable to living through shameful deeds) implies the not-dreaming part.

Cheers,
Jeff