Interoception: What is it, and how can it reduce suffering?

By Dr. Javier Marthillo

What is Interoception and Why Might You Care?

Interoception is your body's ability to sense and interpret what’s happening inside it—such as feeling hungry, thirsty, or noticing your heartbeat. This internal awareness helps maintain balance in your body (1). Beyond physical needs, interoception also plays a key role in connecting your mind to your body, shaping how you understand and respond to emotions, physical states, and even pain.

How Does Interoception Affect Your Emotions?

Have you ever noticed that when you’re scared, your heart races and your breath quickens? These physical sensations—known as interoceptive signals—are critical for recognizing and labeling your emotions. Interestingly, the same sensations occur during intense physical activity, like sprinting, yet you interpret them differently, as exertion rather than fear. This demonstrates how your brain combines interoceptive signals with contextual information to create meaning (2). In essence, interoception shapes not just what you feel, but how you understand and respond to the world around you.

Can Interoception Help You Manage Stress?

Interoception can also help reduce suffering by enabling you to better understand and manage bodily sensations. For instance, you might interpret a racing heart or shallow breath as a sign of danger, which can heighten feelings of anxiety. However, by improving interoceptive awareness, you can learn to recognize these sensations as normal responses to stress or activity rather than threats. This shift in perception can help you stay calm and respond to stress more effectively (3).

How Mindfulness Uses Interoception to Ease Pain

Mindfulness practices leverage interoception to ease both emotional and physical discomfort. By encouraging a focus on bodily sensations without judgment, mindfulness helps you observe pain or stress rather than immediately reacting to it. Over time, this approach fosters a compassionate relationship with discomfort, reducing overwhelm and turning challenging experiences into opportunities for growth (4; 5).

How Interoception Can Help in a Stressful Situation

Imagine you’ve worked hard on an important presentation, and just as you’re about to begin, the projector stops working. You might notice your chest tightening, your heart racing, or your breath becoming shallow. Along with these sensations, you might feel an urge to yell at someone or start telling yourself you’ve failed.

With regular interoception practice, you might notice these physical sensations and recognize them as signs of frustration and disappointment—normal reactions to the situation. Instead of reacting impulsively, you could take a deep breath, acknowledge the feelings, and allow them to pass. This approach reflects findings in neuroscience, which show that naming emotions reduces amygdala activation and supports better emotional regulation (6). From this grounded place, you might refocus and respond with a calm, problem-solving mindset, like troubleshooting the projector or continuing the presentation without visuals.

This is one of the many ways developing interoceptive awareness can reduce suffering. By helping you notice and understand your body’s signals, interoception empowers you to respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively, even in moments of stress.

2 Strategies to Help you Develop Interoception:

Try a Body Scan

Set aside five minutes a day to quietly focus on your body, starting with your toes and slowly working upward. Notice any sensations—like warmth, tightness, or tingling—without judging them. This practice, often used in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), enhances awareness of internal signals and strengthens the connection between mind and body (4).

Pause for Interoceptive Check-Ins

During your day, take short moments to check in with your body. For example, before a meal or while waiting in line, ask yourself: What physical sensations am I feeling right now? Research suggests that regularly identifying and naming these sensations can enhance emotional regulation by lowering reactivity and fostering present-moment awareness (3; 7).

Want more help? Reach out today!

We hope you find the tips in this article helpful. If you’d like individualized support with interoception or your overall mental health, reach out to us today via the “Get Started” button at the top of this page, or our “Contact Us” page!

References

1. Craig, A. D. (2015). How do you feel? An interoceptive moment with your neurobiological self. Princeton University Press.

2. Barrett, L. F. (2017). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

3. Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. V., & Anderson, A. K. (2015). Mindfulness meditation training alters cortical representations of interoceptive attention. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 8(1), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss066

4. Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.bpg016

5. Garland, E. L., Gaylord, S. A., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2015). Positive reappraisal mediates the stress-reductive effects of mindfulness: An upward spiral process. Mindfulness, 2(1), 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0394-8

6. Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01916.x

7. Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT® skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.