We are all familiar with our 5 senses - Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell, and Taste. However, these five forms of body sensing are only the tip of the iceberg. Together, these fives senses make up what scientists call exteroception - the part of our nervous system that processes sensory information from the outside or “external” world. 

Less familiar (and less understood) are the senses that provide sensory information from our “internal” world or interoception. This information, also processed by our nervous system, includes both unconscious and conscious awareness of our body’s internal state from body sensations, to temperature, heart rate, blood sugar levels, hunger, and fatigue.

Why is this important? Our relationship with our body’s internal world and how we interpret these sensations directly influences our mood, emotions, and behaviors. When total stress load is high our minds and bodies perceive our “external world” (aka environment/exteroception) as unsafe or unpredictable, which can lead to disconnection with our “internal world” (aka physiology and psychology/interoception) leading to anxiety and feelings of unease.

“A deeper understanding of interoception could inform the development of novel therapeutic interventions for a range of conditions, from stress-related disorders to metabolic and digestive diseases.”

Takuya Sasaki. Nature. How the brain senses the body: Researchers are uncovering how interoception, the body’s unconscious perception of internal states, can impact both brain and body.