Self-Regulation in Context: Understanding the Critical Roles of Interoception and Co-Regulation
By Dr Lelanie Brewer, 29 January 2025
This month we delve deeper into the interplay of self-regulation, interoception and co-regulation and why regulation is a team effort.
Self-regulation refers to the ability to understand and manage our behaviours and reactions. This, in turn, plays an important role in our ability to focus on and participate in daily tasks.
Self-regulation occurs within our central nervous system and includes our ability to consciously and automatically regulate our emotions, stress response, alertness and attention. We all experience differences in how our brain and body deal with sensory input, but some people's differences make everyday situations or activities challenging or difficult to process.
Our interoceptive sense – the sense that helps us makes sense of what is happening inside our body or how we are feeling - especially influences self-regulation. For example, if we cannot interpret our body signals, we can end up feeling dysregulated without knowing how to regulate ourselves because we are not sure what we need! Therefore, interoception should be seen as a foundation for self-regulation.
I recently came across the work of James Cavanagh from RAWlife Health who has coined the phrase the ‘WOW Factor’. In James’ framework, W stands for Witness which is observing feelings and experiences, O stands for Own which is about naming and accepting feelings and the final W stands for Wonder which is about exploring solutions to help children and other individuals respond to their feelings or situations creatively. James will be releasing a book soon titled “The Power of WOW” and his framework is a great way to view the role that interoception plays in self-regulation.
Accepting that self-regulation doesn't happen in isolation, co-regulation, which is when children, adolescents, and even adults are provided with supportive and responsive interactions that help them self-soothe in times of stress, is a key piece of regulation too. Providing support and modelling responses to stress and anxiety-provoking situations is absolutely vital and we shouldn’t expect anyone to manage their behaviours and reactions without this support.
In summary, it is useful to think of self-regulation as being overlapped with both interoception and co-regulation, as without these we can’t even begin to consider self-regulation.
PS If you work in a school environment, you may be interested in the blog ‘Self-Regulation in School: A Guide for Staff’ published on our sister website Sensory Inclusive Schools. The blog discusses how understanding the link between self-regulation and a student's unique sensory profile can offer insights into how to make adjustments to the classroom and school environment to create a better learning experience for students. It also highlights practical strategies for fostering co-regulation as well as ways of introducing sensory-friendly practices. You can read the full blog here.
