Interoception: Understanding your child's inner world

Interoception refers to the understanding of our internal bodily messages that the brain perceives from the body. The messages come from our organs such as stomach, lungs, liver, heart, mouth, eyes etc etc. They let our brain know about how the body feels for example, hunger, thirst, needing toilet and internal pain.
In this article I will explain:
• A overview of what interoception is.
• Examples of what interoception is and how it can impact on daily life.
• Interoception and sensory processing
• Introduce how interoception is connected to self-regulation

What is interoception?
Interoception is the internal sensory feedback the brain receives from the body, which helps us process and understand what is happening inside the body. It includes sensory messages about:
1. Needing the toilet
2. Recognising when tired
3. Internal pain/discomfort or illness
4. Body temperature
5. Feelings and emotions
6. Hunger/fullness and thirst
7. Stress/ heightened arousal

In order to self-regulate we need to be aware of our internal messages from our organs. For example, have you ever had someone say ‘you are stressed?’ but you respond with ‘no I’m not’ this is an example of perhaps you not recognising your heightened state. Another example is feeling ‘Hangry’. Have you ever been so pre-occupied with a project that you don’t go for lunch and then suddenly you need to eat immediately? This is your interoception system!

This sense also processes hormones and neurotransmitters which are little chemicals which move around the body via the blood and other fluids in the body. They have a big impact on our level of alertness and how our body functions. It therefore, is the sense that helps us regulate our body’s needs, understanding our internal state is what helps us to make changes e.g. if we are feeling tired, we can’t concentrate and go to sleep.

If children or young people are not aware of the body’s internal signals, they will never take steps to change them. Therefore, interoception is vital for self-regulation to occur, for example, when we notice we have a dry mouth, we know we are thirsty and we go for a drink or when we are hot, we may take our jumper off. This is why interception is so important! The sooner children are aware of those signals, the sooner changes can be made.

‘Sometimes we always look for complex external reasons instead of recognising that perhaps it is what is going on in the inside, and could be quite simply the child is hungry or needs the toilet. Children require help therefore, to initially identify these messages and then take action, over time self-regulation will develop’.

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