Interoception

Interoception is the internal sense that perceives the state of one's own body — heart rate, temperature, pain, hunger, thirst, the need to use the bathroom, tiredness, physical sensations tied to emotion. It's often described as the "eighth sense" and is regulated by the autonomic nervous system.

Autistic people often have atypical interoceptive processing, which can show up as: difficulty recognizing hunger (forgetting to eat) or thirst, not noticing pain until it's intense, difficulty noticing tiredness before hitting a wall, and alexithymia (difficulty identifying emotions because the interoceptive cues that signal them aren't processed clearly).

Interventions focused on interoception — such as the curriculum developed by Kelly Mahler — help build mind-body awareness, improving both self-care and emotional regulation.