Question: could you tell me a little more about interoception?

Melissa Barker answered on 8 Mar 2021:

Great question!

Interoception is one of our senses, just like vision, smell, taste and touch. However, most people haven’t heard about it before, or know why it’s important. It refers to the ability to perceive internal sensations inside our body, like hunger, thirst, pain, temperature changes, heart rate, and breathing. Its important that we can feel and understand these sensations so that we can ensure that our bodies stay healthy.

Interoception can affect lots of different things, including our emotions. For example, the feeling of ‘butterflies’ in our stomach tells us that we are feeling nervous. We can feel our heart race if we feel excited. The sensations in our body can provide us with information about how we are feeling, and without this information, it can be difficult to identify which emotions we are experiencing.