👉 In order to maintain homeostasis, we experience specific, conscious feelings (interoception) that motivate us to meet our specific physical needs, social and emotional needs.

Just to stay alive, we have SO many needs to meet.

We need to breathe every few seconds, eat 🍎 and drink every few hours, find shelter 🏠 and sleep 😴 every night.

Luckily our bodies have developed an “autopilot” mode to make sure we meet all of our needs at the right times.

🌡️ Homeostasis is the process living organisms or systems use to maintain stable internal conditions (physical, chemical or social), even when external conditions are changing.

Most homeostatic processes happen behind the scenes, outside of conscious awareness. For example, your body needs to stay pretty close to 98.6 degrees at all times. To avoid overheating, your body starts sweating, cooling you down. To avoid getting too cold, your body starts shivering and reduces blood circulation to the skin.

But the body can only do so much on its own…sometimes it needs your help. In those moments, your body prompts you to take explicit action to correct being “out of healthy range”.

The body has a literal 6th sense for exactly this purpose. It’s called interoception — the brain’s ability to assess and sense what’s happening or could happen to the body internally, based on the world around us. Just like taste has different categories to help you distinguish between various nutrient types (salty, sweet, bitter, sour, umami), so interoception has different categories to help you figure out what is out of range (see examples below). Based on the specific sensations you feel through interoception, you are prompted to act in a nuanced way based on a behavioral routine or script that the brain thinks is appropriate for the situation (probably because it worked in the past).

These familiar feelings are each distinct based on the need they represent and which side of the spectrum you’re on (too much or too little). These distinctions convey critical information about what you need so you’re motivated to act in the right direction.

A few notes:

➡️ While correctly interpreting our feelings is critical to survival, we’re not always good at it. How many times have I thought I was hungry, snacking away on chips, when I was actually thirsty?

➡️ We don’t have associated feelings for being “just right.” The purpose of the feelings is to motivate actions to “fix” something. When we’re just right, no actions are required.

➡️ Unmet needs are notably unpleasant— they are annoying, nagging, then intense and even painful until the need is met. Just like met needs are rewarding (the pleasure of that first bite when you’re hungry, a cold drink of water on a hot summer day); unmet needs are punishing by design.

🤔 Reflection of the Day: Take a moment right now to pause and tune into your own interoception. What do you feel right now inside your body? Do you want anything in particular? What need is your body motivating you to go meet?