As some who is diagnosed with both hyperesthesia [1] and anxiety disorder, it's really funny how your wife is the opposite of my experience. It reminds me of Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicles we experience the same things and lead similar lives yet our senses can be so different to a point where something fatally painful can be so pleasurable to others.

[1] My skin is hypersensitive to pain, to the point sometimes it's very painful to put on clothes. Usually it's manageable with wearing large clothes, but it's worse if I haven't had enough sleep or some allergies (or salty food etc) are causing inflammation.