Harnessing Your Sixth Sense

Your five senses – sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell – offer you “a window to the outside world.” In addition, you have a sixth sense that monitors all your internal functions, including, for example, your heart rate and sodium levels. Myriad sensors all over the body send signals along a path that leads to the brain’s insular cortex, which hosts a “tiny high-resolution map” depicting the current state of your body. Your mind and body continuously communicate along this pathway. This mind-body connection regulates automatic functions like your breathing and heartbeat. If this connection failed, you would die within minutes.