It’s our ability to sense what’s happening inside our body, allowing us to experience feelings like hunger, thirst, anxiety, or calm.

Think of it as the body’s internal dashboard. When interoception is dulled, it’s harder to recognise feelings, self-regulate emotions, or even know when you're hungry or tired.

They’re often the first sign of neurodiversity - but importantly, can also cause a fundamental trauma for the child.

A baby will instinctively craves food, associating it with comfort, safety and a primal sense of satisfaction. But if eating triggers discomfort, confusion, or pain, the brain starts to associate internal signals like hunger with danger. Over time, this can condition a fear response to any gut feeling - not just around food, but emotions too.

Absolutely! The first step is understanding, and from that we can move from reacting to our bodies signals to responding in a calm, rational fashion.

With the right support, children (and adults) can learn to tune into their bodies, notice early emotional cues, and respond with awareness instead of overwhelm.

Tools like mindfulness, breathing, MABT and body scans can help but the real shift happens when we teach kids to name what they feel:

“My stomach’s tight… I might be nervous.”
“My chest is buzzing… maybe I’m excited.”

It starts with noticing. Then naming.
That’s how regulation begins.

AI can read the world but it can’t feel it or intuitively connect to the world on an emotional level.

Interoception is a uniquely human sense. It shapes how we connect, self-regulate, and make decisions. As we build increasingly intelligent systems, we need to understand and protect the emotional intelligence that only humans possess. Interoception is where that starts.