Does Our Ability to ‘Listen’ to Our Body Impact Our Mental Health?

Published on: 12 Oct, 2026
Updated on: 14 Oct, 2026

Psychologists at the University of Surrey are inviting volunteers to take part in a new study examining how the brain processes bodily signals, like heartbeats or hunger, and whether it is connected to a person’s mental health over time.

The study will focus on interoception – the internal sensory system that lets you notice, interpret, and integrate signals from inside the body

Interoception is thought to be important for mental health and wellbeing and research shows it varies between people, including across clinical groups, sexes and genders. However almost all this work compares one person with another. Little is known about how people may change over time due to factors like hormones and what this means for known differences in mental health between sexes and genders.

To help understand more about this, the team is recruiting adults aged 18-40 to explore how interoception and mood change over time and whether the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraception make a difference.

Dr Jenny Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Surrey, said: “Despite not being widely known, interoception is our ‘eighth sense’ and refers to how we process signals coming from inside our body – like feeling our heartbeats or breathing. We believe it matters for mental health, but we’ve mostly looked at how people differ from each other, not how each person changes over time.

“By following people day to day, including across the menstrual cycle and in those using hormonal contraception, we hope to understand how changes in the body relate to changes in mood, and why mental health can differ between groups.”

Throughout the study, participants will be required, over about four weeks, to use a series of smartphone apps and answer short daily questions. Questions will focus on bodily physical symptoms, interoception and mood.

In addition, every four days, participants will complete two tasks – one of which will measure a person’s ability to feel their own heartbeat.

Dr Murphy said: “To fully understand the relationship between interoception and wellbeing, we need to understand both how interoception varies within individuals over time and why it differs between individuals. Distinguishing these sources of variation is important for identifying how, and for whom, interventions may be most effective.”

Further details: https://surreyfahs.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cCIrGLK5GIVDS3c