Interoception

Definition
Interoception is your ability to sense what is going on inside your body. Things like hunger, tension, thirst, temperature, heartbeat, fullness, fatigue.
That itchy, heavy feeling behind your eyes when you have been sitting in front of a screen too long. It is your internal dashboard, giving you information in the background – long before you notice anything is off.

What it is and why it matters
Your brain constantly gathers signals from inside your body unconsciously uses them to guide your energy, focus, mood and behaviour.
Interoception is the skill that lets you become consciously aware of what is usually happening unconsciously.
It is an innate ability to pick up on the subtleties of your internal world and the small environmental cues around you.

Babies and toddlers have exceptional interoception. They notice discomfort or hunger the moment those signals appear, and they respond without hesitation. Adults often override these signals, then wonder why they feel flat, irritable or overwhelmed for reasons that seem mysterious at the time.

Sometimes interoception shows up in social situations, too. You meet someone and feel the ‘ick’, but you can’t explain it.

Your body has already registered something in their tone, posture or micro-expressions before your thinking brain catches up.
The same thing happens when you notice someone is not quite right. We saw a woman in the gym this week and both of us knew instinctively that we needed to intervene ‘is she ok?’, we see her regularly, and nothing obvious had happened, but we both had a sense to check in with her.
Turned out – we were right.
These moments are not guesswork or paranoia. They are your internal systems picking up subtle cues in the environment and feeding them to you as a feeling rather than a thought.

Neuroscience has plenty to say about this. Your brain has its own internal monitoring system that keeps track of what is going on in your body long before you consciously notice it.
These networks influence emotional balance, clarity of thought, and how connected you feel to your body, rather than feeling slightly frazzled around the edges.
And the system runs continuously. Unless you are very dialled in, you are likely to only become aware of it once sensations build enough to be noticed.

In Human Upgrade, we ask our members to run through something we call the Idiotic Eureka Checklist. When you feel off, low, irritable, or on the verge of a wobble, check the basics in the same way you would with a baby. Have you eaten, been outside, taken a break, slept properly, hydrated, or had any real human contact?

It sounds almost embarrassingly simple, but more often than you would expect, one of those basics turns out to be the reason you feel as though the world is ending!

Absolutely, an interoception check-in.

Interoception is the grown-up version of using that checklist instinctively. It helps you understand what your body is asking for before your mind steps in with unhelpful conclusions.

Real-life patterns
• You assume you are unfocused, but you have not eaten enough to think straight.
• You feel irritable and decide it must be stress, when you actually needed a short break earlier.
• You drag yourself through the afternoon and blame willpower, when the real issue is underslept biology.
• You feel overwhelmed by a simple task, then realise you have been indoors for hours without moving.
• You feel restless, jumpy or oddly agitated and assume it is anxiety, when your body is signalling it needs movement after too much sitting.
• You feel foggy or headachy and start catastrophising, when you are simply dehydrated and have not had enough water.

These are not deep psychological mysteries.
They are everyday signals that you have slipped out of sync with your basic needs.

Things to think about
It is worth noticing which internal cues you pick up and which you breeze past.
Some people recognise hunger instantly, yet miss the signs of fatigue. Others feel every change in heart rate but ignore the early stirrings of restlessness.
Interoception is not a single ability. It is a set of small signals, eac

A helpful starting point is to separate sensation from story. “My head feels heavy” gives you something practical to address. “There must be something wrong with me” sends you into unnecessary spirals.

If your default is to push through until something forces you to stop, it can help to build simple supports into your day. Water within reach. A real lunch. A break from screens before your eyes start their protest. A stretch or short walk between tasks. These are not indulgences. They are how humans operate at their best.

Optional challenge
Pick three internal cues to pay attention to this week. Hunger, tiredness, tension, temperature, thirst, restlessness or whatever you often ignore. Pause a couple of times each day and check what you can sense. If something is there, act on it. A snack. A walk. A glass of water. A breather. Notice how different your day feels when you respond early rather than waiting until you are running on fumes.

A Buddh-ish take
“Health is the greatest gift. Contentment the greatest wealth. Trust the rhythms of your life.”
Dhammapada

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References

Gottman, J. M. (1994). What Predicts Divorce? Psychology Press.

Gottman, J. M., & Levenson, R. W. (1992). Marital processes predictive of later dissolution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(2), 221–233.

Gottman, J. M., & Gottman, J. S. (2015). 10 Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy. W. W. Norton.

Gottman Institute. (n.d.). Research and training centre based in Seattle, specialising in relationship dynamics.