Expanding your window of tolerance through interoception - for ADHD'ers
The first step to improving your ADHD symptoms and emotional regulation: Working on interoception.
Reminder before you read: You don’t have to read it all, and you can scroll down to the guide if you need. I know a big block of text is daunting with ADHD.
If you’re someone with ADHD, you’ve probably felt like your emotions hit harder, last longer, and come out of nowhere. One second you’re fine, the next you’re spiraling. It can feel like you’re missing a warning system. That’s because, in a way, you are.
Many of us with ADHD have a narrow window of tolerance compared to neurotypical people. That’s the zone where your nervous system can handle what life throws at you without shutting down or flipping out. When you’re inside your window, you feel grounded, alert, and capable. Outside of it, you might swing between anxious overdrive or total shutdown.
So how do you widen that window and feel more stable day-to-day?
One of the most underrated tools is interoception - your brain’s ability to sense what’s going on inside your body. Think: hunger, thirst, heart rate, tension, even emotions like sadness or excitement as they show up physically.
For a lot of us with ADHD, interoception can be off. You might not notice you’re hungry until you’re ravenous. You might not realize you’re overwhelmed until you’re snapping at someone or shutting down completely. You might feel anxiety but have no idea where it’s coming from. It’s like living in a house where the fire alarm only goes off after the fire has already spread.
But luckily, interoception is a skill. And just like any skill, it can be practiced and improved. When you get better at sensing the early signals your body is sending you, you can respond before you’re outside your window of tolerance.
Why this matters for ADHD
When you’re not tuned in to your body, it’s easy to miss the build-up. That’s how we go from “fine” to meltdown in under five minutes. It’s not that your reactions are too big - it’s that your body has been yelling at you for a while and you didn’t hear it until it was too late.
Improving interoception helps you:
Notice overwhelm earlier so you can take a break before it becomes too much
Recognize emotions in your body and name them (which helps regulate them)
Identify triggers and patterns that were invisible before
Develop self-trust by learning how your body communicates with you
What Happens As Your Window Expands?
As you get better at feeling what’s going on inside, your body feels safer to be in. You start catching stress signals earlier. You bounce back quicker after hard days. You stop seeing your sensitivity as a flaw and start seeing it as a strength.
It’s not always comfortable - but it’s powerful.
This work changed how I manage my ADHD. I no longer wait for a meltdown to realize I’m overwhelmed. I can pause, shift, regulate, before I spiral. It’s still a practice, but now I have tools. And the more you practice, the more your nervous system learns: it’s safe to feel.
And that’s where you’ll ADHD symptoms will start to shift.
Here’s how you get started
If tuning into your body feels overwhelming, don’t worry. You don’t need to jump straight into feeling all your emotions. In fact, I recommend not doing that at first, because it can feel very overwhelming. You need to crawl before you can walk.
Here’s how I recommend you get started:
1. Start with basic body cues
Begin with sensations that feel neutral or even boring - like hunger, thirst, temperature or the need to pee. These are more easy to track and non-threatening. Try checking in a few times a day:
Am I hungry? How do I know?
Do I need water? What does thirst feel like in my mouth or body?
How does my body feel when I need to use the bathroom?
Am I hot or cold? And what does different temperature feel like in my body?
This might sound silly, but it builds your internal awareness muscle - without emotional overload.
If you struggle with remembering to do this, I’d recommend teaming up with someone you know, who either wants to do this work themselves or will keep you accountable. You can also set timers for reminders.
2. Track small physical sensations
When you’re already checking in with your body, try to notice things like:
The feeling of your clothes on your skin
The temperature of the room
The sensation of your feet on the floor
These are gentle ways to drop into your body and start reconnecting with it, especially if you tend to live in your head (lol, me too).
3. Use body scans (but keep them short)
When you’re taking a quick bathroom break during the day, you can do a quick 2-minute scan to help you notice tension, fatigue, or areas that feel numb.
You don’t need to fix anything - you just need to notice. This builds your capacity to stay present with physical sensations, which is key for widening that window.
A body scan is just starting at the top of your head or bottom of your feet and ‘scanning’ up or down your body with your awareness.
4. Get curious, not judgmental
You might not feel much at first - or you might feel a lot. Either is okay. This isn’t about being “good” at noticing body cues. It’s about being curious. The more often you check in, the more fluency you build in the language of your body.
If this practice starts feeling overwhelming, step away from it for a bit. You won’t fix things overnight anyway - just get back to it, when you can.
Remember: This is a marathon, not a sprint
This is work that will take time, and building interception is just the first step.
It took me four years of nervous system work to get to where I am today, where my ADHD symptoms aren’t a hindrance to me anymore. But if you start today, you’ll be better off in a month, and even more so in a year.
And remember: It’s okay if you fall off the wagon sometimes. You don’t need to do this 24/7 for it to be beneficial, a couple of minutes per day can do wonders.
Every second you dedicate to bring awareness to you body is a win.
Next steps
When you’ve done this for a while, it’s time to dive a bit deeper, and start feeling your emotions as well. But before you do that, I recommend working on improving your sleep as it’s absolutely essential to be able to regulate your emotions.
I’ll go into that in my next couple of articles.