Interoception: The Sixth Sense

If your body had a voice, would you listen? There are obvious signals: a grumbling stomach, a yawn, a caffeine high. And subtler ones: heart rate changes in a heated convo, the gut feeling that something’s off, the tension in your shoulders when stress spikes.

All of these speak to our inner sense: interoception. It’s the human ability to interpret signals from within your body. Many people treat these messages like background noise. High performers pay attention.

Why We Stop Listening

As kids, we learn to tune into our bodies. Potty training proves that. But along the way, that connection can get muddled. Echoed jibes from caregivers–”You just ate, you can’t be hungry!” or “That didn’t really hurt, get up”–plant seeds of doubt. Over time, that disconnection can turn into habit.

This would explain why around 40% of adults can’t consciously perceive their heartbeat. A simple but key interoceptive signal.

Extend that wider: 89% of Brits surveyed said their lives would be improved by sleeping more, yet most do nothing about it. Granted, not everyone has the luxury of an earlier bedtime, but many could cut an evening task for an hour of extra sleep.

Daily Power

Interoception pops up in everyday culture: yoga sessions, meditation, breathwork. It can get written off as hippy-dippy, but these practices have endured millennia for a reason. Listening to the body is important.

More distractions than ever mean it’s never been harder (or more important) to listen to what your body has to say. No wonder people are ditching tech en masse.

Interestingly, mental health research shows that depression and anxiety affect interoception antithetically. Depressed people tend to have poor interoceptive awareness and struggle to sense bodily signals, which may contribute to emotional numbness and fatigue.

Anxious people, on the other hand, are hyperaware of their internal signals but often misinterpret them. A heart rate increase can turn into catastrophising, feeding a cycle of panic.

Corporeal Bent

Interoception’s also critical for physical performance.

Beginners in the gym panic when their muscles burn, interpreting it as a sign of harm. Veterans recognise that same burn as progress. That’s interoception in action: understanding the body’s cues.

Anxiousness and excitement generate near identical physiological responses. Our perception changes the feeling. Much of interoception is about experience. Just as time in the gym redefines the pain of training, so too does racking up hours doing the work in any sense. The juice becomes worth the squeeze.

Exercise refines this understanding. As Professor Hugo Critchley says, “If you’re deconditioned from a lack of exercise, you’re more likely to experience symptoms that you might associate with anxiety. Your heart will race more when you face challenges—be it [sic] physical or emotional.”

A fitter body experiences stress differently, making stressful situations feel more manageable.

Balancing Act

Your body is constantly budgeting energy. Each day you pump 2,000 gallons of blood to fuel your 600+ muscles and dozens of internal systems. All the while, regulating hormones, digesting food and fighting illness at the same time as moving, thinking and feeling.

Your brain’s coordinating all of this in an endless balancing act of using and replenishing–it’s allostasis in action. Seeing changes in data is one-half. Feeling variations in yourself is the other.

Ignoring signals, pushing through fatigue, skipping meals and overloading on stress throws internal systems out of balance. Do this consistently, and performance suffers.

Intuition is important.

Returning To Sender

Okay, so how to harness interoception?

To get the ball rolling, the most common suggestion is to try to sense your heartbeat without feeling your pulse. Other modalities include checking your breathing when stressed: is it shallow and fast, or slow and controlled? Before you eat, too, ask whether you’re actually hungry... or are just bored.

Ultimately, particularly for ZAAG readers, the best analogy is the training mindset.

You know you have a distance (or number of reps) to hit. Almost invariably, you hit those markers. You know you can complete the task, even if not doing it is easier. That certainty of capacity applies beyond movement. Tasks requiring mental and emotional effort demand the same awareness and intention.

It’s on you to listen. Improving interoceptive awareness aids in the regulation of stress, sharpening of focus and fine-tuning performance.

Take a deep breath. Check in. Your body’s got something to say.