Interoception
The sense of your internal body state — hunger, thirst, temperature, heart rate, bladder fullness, fatigue. Many neurodivergent people have differences in interoception, leading to missed body signals.
Interoception is your "8th sense" — awareness of internal bodily signals. While most people automatically know when they're hungry, thirsty, hot, cold, or need the bathroom, many neurodivergent people have reduced or different interoceptive awareness.
Neurodivergent interoception differences: not noticing hunger until you're starving (then eating too much), not recognizing fatigue until you collapse, difficulty with toilet training in childhood, not knowing if you're cold or hot, difficulty connecting physical sensations to emotions (alexithymia).
ADHD: hyperfocus overrides interoceptive signals (forget to eat, drink, or use the bathroom for hours). Autism: may have either heightened or reduced interoception depending on the signal.
Compensation: set timed reminders for eating/drinking, use a body scan practice, keep a water bottle visible, and wear a smartwatch that tracks heart rate (external interoception).