Humans Have a ‘Sixth Sense’ You’ve Probably Never Heard Of – And It Appears to Be Key For Mental Health

Image: Interoception – The sensory system that allows organisms to sense internal stimuli. This includes sensing: hunger, thirst, lung expansion/contraction and many other internal stimuli. Image credit: Explore Biology via Flickr. CC BY 4.0 (resized to fit). Article by Fiona MacDonald. ScienceAlert – July 11, 2026.

We all know that humans have five senses. But a growing body of research shows we have a sixth one that almost nobody talks about – and it may be just as important for our wellbeing as any of the others. It’s called interoception: the body’s ability to sense and interpret its own internal signals. This sense detects things that seem ‘invisible’ but are happening constantly: your heart rate, your breathing, your hunger, the temperature running through your body. […]

Click here to view original web page at www.sciencealert.com

Video: What is Interoception? – Science, Simplified – Scripps Research