Interoception: An Important Component in Eating Disorder Recovery

Our body has a superpower. Our bodies alone can communicate with us and send us information on what we need and how we’re feeling. It keeps us alive, really.

That superpower is called interoception. That’s the fancy word for it. That’s our ability to sense, interpret, and make meaning from signals coming from inside our bodies. It's how we notice things like hunger, fullness, thirst, heart rate, breathing, temperature, muscle tension, fatigue, physical discomfort, and the physical sensations that can accompany emotions.

I like to think about interoception as learning the language your body uses to communicate with you. Like any language, it can become easier (or harder) to understand depending on how much we've practiced listening.

It could be fatigue telling you that you need rest or irritability telling you that something has been building. A tight chest could be accompanying anxiety, a growling stomach could be telling you that you need food. Maybe feeling restless is telling you that you need connection or a change in environment.

Can we attempt curiosity to hear what the sensation might be telling us?

Your body isn't just a vehicle carrying your brain around

We can treat our bodies a little bit like a car sometimes. Is it functioning? Great. Keep going. Check engine light? Maybe ignore that for another 500 miles.

But our bodies aren't machines that we're supposed to operate until they break down. They're communicating with us all day long. And when we repeatedly override those signals whether that’s because we're busy, uncomfortable, or maybe we don't trust them, or trying to be productive, or because we've learned that certain sensations are inconvenient, we can become less practiced at recognizing what they're saying. I have a handful of clients who talk about their “crash outs,” where it’s hard to function, shut down, maybe even freak out or explode. Had there been moments our bodies attempted to communicate that we needed to slow down or needed a break? Probably. Do they want to hear that? No. If I bring that up all depends on how spicey I was feeling that day.

Anyway, interoception is extremely important when we're talking about food and eating disorders.

What does interoception have to do with eating disorders?

For someone struggling with an eating disorder or disordered eating, internal signals can become complicated. Years of dieting, restricting, ignoring hunger, overriding fullness, following external food rules, compensating for eating, body checking, fearing physical sensations, trauma or judging the body can interfere with our relationship with internal cues.

Over time we can stop trusting the communication.

You might still have hunger cues, but you may question whether you're “hungry enough” to eat.

You might experience fullness, but immediately wonder whether you've eaten too much or associate that feeling with immediate distress or other emotions.

You might notice discomfort in your body and interpret it as something that needs to be fixed rather than something that can simply be noticed.

Learning to trust our bodies and listen to its cues is a vital step in recovery.

And here's where emotions fit in

We often talk about emotions as though they're purely mental. I'm anxious. I'm sad. I'm angry. But emotions have bodies.

Anxiety might show up as a racing heart or shallow breathing. Sadness might feel heavy. Anger might bring heat or muscle tension. Fear might create a sinking sensation in your stomach. Excitement might feel like energy buzzing through your body. Emotions aren’t just something you think. It's something you experience. Interoception is part of how we notice those physical experiences.

Sometimes when cues get blurred…

“I'm exhausted” can feel like “Why is everyone annoying me?”

“I need connection” turns into “I need to scroll for an hour.”

“I'm having a really hard day” can become “I need to control what I eat to tolerate this feeling.”

Can we notice without shutting down or interfering?

Can your heart race without deciding that something terrible is happening?

Can discomfort exist without immediately needing to make it disappear?

What would happen if we felt fullness without judging yourself for experiencing it?

Or notice the felt sense of anxiety and believe we can move through it?

Awareness and tolerance can exist together.

What do I do about it?

You can start by noticing.

Then noticing again.

And again.

You're gathering information and learning that when I feel this, here’s what tends to be happening.

Try the three N's

Notice: What am I experiencing in my body?

Name: Can I describe what I'm noticing without immediately judging it?

Need: What might this information be telling me about what I need?

You can practice while you're walking. What do you notice in your body as you’re moving? Can you feel the breeze on your face? Or the thickness of the air?

When you’re reading, how are you sitting? How do the pages feel? What happens when you relax your shoulders?

While you're eating (maybe work up to this if you struggle with disordered eating or eating disorders or talk to a professional for support), what do you sense in your body? How do some thoughts naturally follow and how does that impact your relationship with eating?

While you're spending time with someone you love. Something that happens to me with my closest friends, I’m thinking about one in particular, is I get the giggles. I can’t stop laughing, it starts at my stomach, it boils up, and explodes from my mouth. Nothing was said that justifies that giggle but it’s my body’s way of communicating that I feel safe, in connection with someone, comfortable, and love.

Pause, notice and then ask, what might this be telling me?

Your body has been communicating with you all along. We just have to listen.

Warmly,

Alli