What Is Interoception?
Interoception is how your brain senses and responds to what’s going on inside your body.
“It’s how we know when we’re hungry, thirsty, anxious, or even need to take a deep breath,” says Wen G. Chen, PhD, branch chief for basic and mechanistic research at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. “Think of it as our body’s ‘sixth sense’ – an internal GPS that helps us stay balanced, both physically and emotionally.”
Types of Interoception
You can break down interoception into two types.
Interoceptive accuracy: This is how good you are at noting the signals your body sends you. For instance, how easy is it for you to feel your heart beating without using your hands?
Interoceptive attention: How often do you notice what your body is trying to tell you? Even if you can easily sense your heart beating in your chest, how many times during the day do you actually pay attention to it?
Everyone is different. You could be in tune to your body’s signals but struggle to know what they mean or vice versa. Or you could be skilled at both or neither.
Examples of Interoception
Some common signals you get from your body include:
- Body temperature (feeling hot or cold)
- Thirst
- Dry mouth
- Goosebumps
- Sweating
- Blushing
- Hunger
- Itching
- Needing to pee
- Upset stomach
- Stiff, tense, or painful muscles
- Fast breathing
- Fast heartbeat
How Interoception Works
Several pathways connect your brain to the rest of your body. Some use nerves like your spinal cord or vagus nerve (which relays messages between your brain, heart, and gut) to send fast messages. Others rely on slower signals, like hormones that travel through your blood.
“These routes work together to help our body and brain stay in sync,” says Chen.
Signs of interoception
Three things happen during this complex process.
Step 1: Your body senses something. One of your nerve cells picks up on something different — for instance, maybe your mouth feels drier than usual. It relays that information to your brain.
Step 2: Your brain decodes the signal. A section of your brain called the thalamus has the job of decoding what that signal means. In this case, it means that you’re thirsty.
Step 3: You take action. You make a conscious choice to act on the message you received from your brain. You open your bottle of water and have a big drink.
What causes poor interoception
Many different factors can throw off your ability to know what your body is trying to tell you. “Stress, trauma, chronic illness, and even our busy, screen-filled lifestyles can all dull our ability to notice what’s going on inside,” Chen says.
For instance, after trauma, it’s common to feel overwhelmed or unsafe. As a result, you might ignore signals from your body. Living with chronic pain can also cause you to “mute” your interoception.
On the other hand, you could be an “intense feeler.” This means that you’re hyper-aware of your body’s signals and can feel easily overwhelmed by them. Experts believe this is more likely to happen if you live with a condition like autism, anxiety, or depression.
Symptoms of poor interoception
Signs that you may need to improve your interoception include:
- Not knowing you need to pee until it becomes urgent
- Feeling pain very easily or not until you’re in extreme pain
- Rarely feeling hungry or thirsty
- Not feeling full after eating a meal
- Finding it hard to manage your emotions
- Living with anxiety
Interoception and Neurodivergence
Being neurodiverse means that your brain works differently. As a result, you may relate differently to your body than someone who is not neurodiverse.
Autism and interoception
Interoception may not develop fully or function well in people who live with autism. There’s no clear reason why this happens. But it may make it harder to understand your emotions, which can make it more of a challenge to control them. Social signals that you get from other people may also be tougher to pick up on.
Is interoception a symptom of ADHD?
If you have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), you may be very good at “hearing” what your body is telling you. But you might not always respond. For instance, you might know that you feel sick to your stomach because you haven’t eaten in a while. But you still might not eat right away.
How to Improve and Build Interoception Skills
Scientists used to think that interoception helped your body with basic “behind the scenes” functions like keeping your body temperature steady or controlling your heart rate.
“But in recent decades, our understanding has grown dramatically,” says Chen. “We now know that interoception also plays a major role in emotions, motivation, social connection, and mental health. It’s even being explored in conditions like autism, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and chronic pain.”
When you’re more aware of what your body’s “telling” you, you can take better care of yourself.
For instance, spotting early signs of stress, like clenching your jaw or finding it hard to focus, might help you try to relax before that tension overwhelms you. “Picking up on hunger, pain, or fatigue signals can help with managing sleep, appetite, and even chronic illness more effectively,” Chen says.
Interoception exercises
One way to improve interoception is with some type of body mindfulness. What does that mean, exactly? It’s any activity that helps you notice how your body feels in the present moment.
“Just notice how your body feels, whether that's for 30 seconds in the shower in the morning, or when you're going for a run, you notice how your feet feel when they're hitting the pavement,” says Kelly Mahler, OTD, an occupational therapist in Dallas, Pennsylvania. “It doesn't have to be something that you take 30 minutes out of your entire day to do.”
Think of interoception as a muscle, says Mahler. The more you use it, the stronger it can get.
Other body-mind activities that can help you become more in tune with your body signals include:
- Deep breathing
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Tai chi
“Even simple check-ins during the day — like asking ourselves, “Am I hungry? Am I tense?” — can help strengthen our connection to internal cues over time,” says Chen.
Some types of technology, like a smartwatch that tracks your heart rate or an app that reminds you to drink water, can help build your interoception skills.
Occupational therapists with special training in sensory processing differences can also help you better identify the signals you’re getting from your body and what they mean.
Takeaways
Interoception is how tuned in you are to the signals your body sends you and how well you respond to them. An example is realizing that you’re thirsty, then getting a drink right away to quench your thirst. Not everyone is born with the same interoception skills. If you need to improve yours, a specially trained occupational therapist can help you practice.
Interoception FAQs
What are some conditions that affect interoception?
Many different health issues can interfere with this special body-mind connection. They include:
- Anxiety and panic disorders
- ADHD
- Autism
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder)
- Somatic symptom disorder (where you have excess worry about any symptoms you’re having)
- Substance abuse disorder
What’s an example of interoceptive avoidance?
If you don’t like how a certain body signal feels, you may try to avoid anything that could cause it. An example of interoceptive avoidance is not liking when your heart rate goes up. Maybe it makes you feel anxious or like you’re going to have a panic attack. As a result, you might stop working out because it also raises your heart rate.
In the short term, avoiding things you’re scared of can feel like a way to stay safe. But in the long term, it’s important to learn how to face your fears. A trained therapist can help you do this.
What are some interoception exercises for anxiety?
Interoceptive exposure is a form of exposure therapy. If your therapist feels that you’re ready to try it, they’ll slowly and safely expose you to what you’re scared of. For instance, if feeling short of breath makes you feel anxious, a therapist might have you try quickly breathing through a straw to create that same feeling. If a fast heart rate worries you, a therapist might suggest you run in place. Exercises like these are designed to gently make you uncomfortable. That way you can learn to tolerate your discomfort.
It’s important to try these exercises with a trained expert. Check with your doctor first. They may not be safe to try if you have a health condition like asthma, epilepsy, or heart issues or if you’re pregnant.
What’s the difference between alexithymia and interoception?
Alexithymia is a trait that affects as many as 10% of people. If you have it, you find it hard to describe or explain your feelings. That can prevent you from being self-aware (knowing what you think or feel), getting close to others, or being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Mindfulness training is one technique that experts use to try to help people with alexithymia get more in touch with their emotions.
What’s an example of interoceptive stimming?
Stimming is a way you soothe yourself. You may not even know when you do it. Some common examples are humming, clearing your throat, or pacing. It’s often harmless.
One study found that stimming like hand flapping and rocking back and forth helped people with autism spectrum disorder better notice their heartbeats. But more research needs to be done to better understand the link between stimming and interoception.
What’s the difference between proprioception and interoception?
Proprioception is how your body is aware of its own movements. For instance, when you walk on an uneven surface or pick up something heavy to carry, you’re using proprioception. It’s a complex process that involves your brain, eyes, ears, and many receptors all over your body.
