Why scientists want everyone to listen to their body – it might prove to be good for our mental health!

Interoception is our sense of what is happening inside our body. People with a strong interoceptive sense will notice quickly (and so be able to act on it) when they are hungry, full, tired or need the toilet. Interoception also helps us to recognise and understand our emotions, and this is something that researchers are increasingly recognising as important for protecting and promoting good mental health.^[1] 

Feelings are often talked about as a very brain-based sensation, but our bodies also experience changes and send messages to the brain which informs how we feel;^[2] often the physical response to an event or experience is in fact part of our emotional reaction. 

Some of the links between physiological (the body’s) responses and emotions are well known, but research is showing more and more subtle links between physical reactions and emotions. 

You will probably have noticed that sometimes your body reacts in moments of strong feeling; it might be discovering you’re crying when you’re sad or cross, or butterflies in your tummy at the thought of something exciting, or perhaps a wave of heat and tension when you feel angry.  

But our bodies are constantly sending us messages about what it thinks is happening around us, and reacting to events often before we have had time to process what is going on – this might in fact be the reason we can have a ‘gut instinct’ for something our brains have not quite understood yet. 

Our interoceptive sense can notice and alert the brain to incredibly tiny changes in our body, and research shows humans also respond to miniscule physical changes related to emotions when they’re seen in others.  

In an experiment conducted by University College London,^[3] researchers found that when pupil size became slightly smaller it was associated with sadness.  

They showed images of a face, the only difference between images being that some had smaller pupils. Although participants couldn’t tell what the differences were between the photos, they identified the face with smaller pupils as being sad.  

This tiny response to sadness is not something most people would have been aware of, but is something our bodies pick up on and respond to.^[4,5] 

The experiment also found that the participant’s own pupils changed to mirror the size of the pupils on the face they were looking at – an example of the empathy our bodies are wired to experience. 

A good interoceptive sense will mean that the messages travelling between the brain and the body are timely, accurate and supportive in the moment.  

Scientists are still exploring why and exactly how the interoceptive sense might link to mental health – some research suggests it might be because changes or mismatches between the bodily signals and the brain’s experience could impact on mental health symptoms, such as anxiety.^[1] 

Helping your toddler build up an understanding of how their body might tell them things, and learn to respond to their interoceptive sense, is not as daunting as it sounds.  

Take time to talk to them about how you know what your body is telling you – be as descriptive as you can be of the feelings you get when you’re full, tired or need the toilet and talk about how you trust your body to tell you these things, so when it does, you listen.  

When your toddler is feeling emotional, offer lots of support and comfort in the moment. Later on, when everything is feeling a little calmer, you can talk about how it felt in their body, as well as what happened around them, as a way to help them link the two experiences together.  

More than anything, know that your body, and your child’s body, are incredible networks which are built to support, protect and connect you to others as well as the world around us. Embrace the adventure! 

References: 

[1] Nord, C. L., & Garfinkel, S. N. (2022). ‘Interoceptive pathways to understand and treat mental health conditions’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2022.03.004 

[2] Feldman Barrett, L. (2020) Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain. London:Picador. 

[3] Harrison, N., Singer, T., Rotshtein, P., Dolan, R., and Critchley, H. (2006). ‘Pupil size modulates the empathic experience of sadness’. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 1. 1-13.  

[4] Harrison, N., Wilson, C.E. & Critchley, H. (2007). ‘Processing of Observed Pupil Size Modulates Perception of Sadness and Predicts Empathy’. Emotion. 7. 724-9.  

[5] Küster, D. (2018). ‘Social Effects of Tears and Small Pupils Are Mediated by Felt Sadness: An Evolutionary View.’ Evolutionary Psychology, 16(1).