Feeling the body politic: The relationship between interoception and the impact of politics on our health

There is growing concern about the impact of political engagement on health. Consequently, interest has increased in how people cope with the effects of politics on their wellbeing. We applied an affective science framework to investigate whether interoceptive sensibility, i.e., attunement to our inner bodily feelings, can attenuate the extent to which politics affect people’s health. In a US sample of Republican (n=311) and Democratic (n=321) supporters, we found that interoception can counteract the adverse effects of political engagement on citizens’ health, irrespective of their political party. Importantly, this protective function of interoception does not impact citizens’ political engagement and participation. If anything, people with higher interoceptive sensibility appear more resilient to the impact that politics can have on their health and are more likely to be politically engaged. These findings pave the way for new studies on the intricate and complex relations between embodiment, emotions and politics.