Scientists claim the human body has 'hidden' sixth sense that's essential for our health

You’ve probably been told your whole life that we as humans only have five senses.

But scientists at Scripps Research have claimed there’s another one constantly working inside us, and it might be the most vital of all.

Now, we all know what the five senses are: smell, taste, sound, sight and touch.

However, none of these senses quite tell us what's going on inside our body, and that's where this sixth hidden sense comes in - its importance will become clear pretty quickly.

The sense is how your brain quietly monitors what’s happening inside your body, from your heartbeat and blood pressure to hunger, thirst, and stress levels.

It’s the reason your body knows when to breathe deeper, when you’re dehydrated, or when your immune system needs to kick in.

Researchers have uncovered body’s secret ‘sixth sense’ that controls vital functions (Getty Stock Photo)

It’s called interoception.

Professor Xin Jin, who’s leading part of a $14.2 million National Institutes of Health study into the topic recently said: “Interoception is fundamental to nearly every aspect of health, but it remains a largely unexplored frontier of neuroscience.”

Ardem Patapoutian, PhD, a neuroscience professor at Scripps Research and winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, said scientists are only beginning to map this mysterious process.

“It’s really remarkable how little we know about these internal sensory systems compared to what we know about our external senses,” he said.

“We’re just now beginning to identify how these neurons gather information from our organs, to decipher the neural circuits that process that information before it goes to the brain, and to figure out what the brain does with that information.”

Patapoutian’s own path into this field started with a deceptively simple question: what happens to a neuron when you poke it?

Over a decade ago, his lab set out to find the molecules that make nerve cells sense touch.

Using a glass probe to nudge individual cells, they watched the neurons fire off electrical signals, the body’s built-in communication system.

Scientists get $14 million to study mysterious internal ‘sixth sense’ (Getty Stock Photo)

By removing different proteins, known as ion channels, one at a time, they eventually identified two that were essential for sensing touch.

The team named them PIEZO1 and PIEZO2. Those tiny channels turned out to be the key to understanding how our bodies register sensations like pressure, movement, and balance.

And they don’t just show up in skin. Patapoutian’s team found PIEZO channels in the heart, lungs, stomach lining, and blood vessels, even in the roots of plants.

These findings now form the basis for the Scripps team’s deeper study of interoception.

As they see it, this 'hidden sense' might explain everything from how we control our heartbeat to why our emotions feel physical.

So, the next time your gut tells you something’s off, it might not be a hunch; it could be your sixth sense doing exactly what it’s meant to do.