Interoception: The Sense of What’s Happening Inside

Why you sometimes can’t feel your hunger, fatigue, or overwhelm, until it’s too late.

Some people can feel a shift in their body the moment it happens.

A twinge of hunger before they get snappy. The first hint of tension before a headache forms. The difference between tired and depleted. The early flutter of anxiety, before it becomes a wave.

And others? They don’t feel much of anything, until it crashes.

Until they’re starving. Until they’re flat. Until they’re panicking in the supermarket or snapping at someone they love.

It’s not that they’re less in tune. It’s that their nervous system got really good at turning the volume down.

This is interoception

The ability to notice what’s happening inside your body.

Hunger. Fullness. Pain. Thirst. Heat. Cold. Fatigue. Emotional shifts. It’s the sense that tells you where your body is in space and what it needs.

But for many people, especially those with chronic stress, trauma, or long periods of high-functioning survival, this signal gets… faint.

Or confusing. Or overwhelming. Or unreliable.

Not because you’re broken. But because your body learned, somewhere along the line, that tuning in wasn’t safe.

If you grew up learning to push through…

If your environment rewarded productivity over presence,… if no one asked how your body felt, only how much you’d done,… if rest was earned, not given,… if emotion was too much, or not allowed at all...

Your body learned that disconnection was safer than awareness.

Feeling hunger when you couldn’t eat, exhaustion when you had to keep going, or emotion when it wasn’t welcome? That’s not helpful. That’s dangerous.

So your system adapted.

You kept moving. You stayed functional. You did what was expected.

But you stopped feeling. Until the signals got loud.

And now, maybe you don’t trust your signals. Maybe they arrive too late, or not at all. Maybe you’re never sure if you’re hungry or anxious. Tired or just mentally overloaded. Done or dissociating.

That’s not your fault. It’s interoceptive dysregulation. And it’s more common than most people realise.

This is why shutdown and bracing feel familiar

Shutdown says: It’s too much. I need to disappear.

Bracing says: Keep going. Don’t think about it. Don’t stop.

And both can numb interoceptive input. Not just physically, but emotionally.

You don’t feel hunger, until you’re dizzy. You don’t notice you’re anxious, until you’ve sent the text. You don’t notice you’re sad, until the day ends and you feel hollow.

And in that gap, between what’s happening and when you feel it, is where a lot of pain and confusion builds.

Because when you can’t feel what you need, it’s hard to give yourself what you need.

Rebuilding interoception is possible

But it’s slow. On purpose.

Because what we’re really rebuilding is trust.

Between you and your body. Between sensation and safety. Between noticing and acting, not reacting.

This isn’t about being more mindful. It’s about learning how to stay with a signal, without shutting it down or trying to fix it.

It might start with something as simple as:

• Pausing to ask: Where do I feel this in my body?

• Describing sensation without naming emotion

• Tracking hunger and fullness, even if it’s not accurate yet

• Resting at the first sign of tiredness, not the last

• Sitting with a feeling for 30 seconds longer than usual

• Eating slowly enough to notice the shift from hungry to fed

It’s not about mastery, It’s about reconnection.

Your body didn’t betray you. It protected you.

Now it’s learning how to speak to you again.

Interoceptive Tracking Tool

Because awareness comes before clarity.

This isn’t about tracking to control, it’s about getting to know your signals again, even when they’re quiet, late, or confusing. Think of this as observation, not obligation.

You can use this tool once a day, or pause in the moment when something feels “off” and check in.

Signal Check-In	What Do You Notice?
Hunger	Am I hungry? How do I know? What’s the first sign I notice?
Fullness	Can I feel a shift when I’ve had enough? Where do I feel it?
Fatigue	Do I feel tired? What kind of tired—brain, body, emotional?
Emotion	Can I name what I’m feeling, or where I feel it in my body?
Breath	Is my breath shallow, steady, held? What happens if I deepen it?
Temperature	Am I warm? Cold? Do I notice changes in my body temperature?
Tension	Any tightness in my jaw, neck, belly, chest? Is it constant or new?
Urges (eat, scroll, avoid)	What’s underneath the urge? Can I pause for a moment and ask why?

Try to fill in only what stands out, this is not a quiz. Sometimes “I don’t know” is the most honest answer. That’s still awareness.

Guided Prompts for Reconnection

To help you notice what’s there, before it needs to be loud.

Use these in journaling, quiet reflection, or even in conversation with yourself during the day.

Body Check-In Prompts:

• If I pause right now, what do I notice in my body?

• Where is the tension today, and does it feel old or new?

• What’s the pace of my breath? Am I holding it?

• If I had to describe my inner state without using emotions, what words would I use?

Food + Feeling Prompts:

• Did I feel hunger before I ate, or only after I started?

• What did I want, and what did I reach for?

• Did eating bring relief, energy, heaviness, clarity?

• If I eat slowly, what changes?

Energy + Overwhelm Prompts:

• What kind of tired am I? Physical? Emotional? Mental?

• What’s my energy doing right now, climbing, crashing, flat, floating?

• Have I overridden any signals today?

Emotion + Sensation Prompts:

• If I feel something big, where does it live in my body?

• Can I stay with the feeling for 30 seconds without fixing it?

• What’s the first thing I do when I feel discomfort?

• What would it feel like to just be with what’s here?

The Bottom Line

If you don’t feel hunger until you’re crashing… If you don’t know you’re tired until your legs give out… If you only realise you’re overwhelmed once you’ve snapped.

That’s not weakness. That’s your nervous system protecting you in a world that asked you to ignore yourself.

And now, you’re learning to tune back in.

Not because it’s trendy. But because it’s time.

Because your needs shouldn’t have to scream. They should be able to whisper, and still be heard.