Tuning into your body might protect against the stress of modern politics

A recent study published in Political Psychology reveals that individuals who possess a heightened awareness of their bodily signals may be better equipped to cope with the negative health effects of intense political stress without sacrificing their commitment to civic engagement. Researchers Mariana Von Mohr and Manos Tsakiris from the University of London conducted three separate studies across two U.S. election cycles to investigate whether such bodily awareness could serve as a protective buffer against the adverse impacts of extreme political polarization on physical and psychological well-being.

The first study, conducted immediately after the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, involved 632 participants comprising nearly equal representation from both Democratic and Republican demographics. Participants filled out questionnaires aimed at evaluating their interoceptive sensibility—defined as the ability to sense, interpret, and regulate internal bodily signals like racing hearts or shallow breathing—as well as the health costs they incurred due to politics.

These costs could manifest as physical symptoms such as a racing heart or lost sleep, or social consequences like strained family relationships.

The findings indicated that those with higher interoceptive sensibility reported lower levels of harm across all four health domains examined—physical, emotional, behavioral, and social. Specifically, the study revealed a protective effect when participants exhibited a reduced tendency to worry about bodily sensations and an increased sense of bodily trust.

Interestingly, the researchers also determined that higher interoceptive sensibility did not correlate with a diminished interest in politics. Instead, individuals with this trait were found to be more politically engaged.

Building on these initial results, the researchers expanded their study to include a larger sample of 1,050 participants surveyed over three points in time during the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The assessments were conducted two weeks before, a few days before, and a few days after the election, allowing for the tracking of both health impacts and election-related emotional fluctuations.

Despite the varied political outcomes, higher interoceptive sensibility continued to predict lower harm to physical, emotional, behavioral, and social health, even when accounting for traditional emotion-regulation strategies such as suppressing emotions or reframing negative thoughts.

Moreover, the study explored how voters reacted to losing their preferred candidates. Those who supported Kamala Harris reported poorer overall health and greater deterioration following the election compared to those who supported Donald Trump. Importantly, among Harris voters who initially had lower pre-election health costs, higher interoceptive sensibility was associated with less health decline from pre-election to post-election periods.

However, this protective effect weakened as pre-election health costs increased. Similarly, among Trump supporters, higher interoceptive sensibility correlated with greater hopefulness about the country's future.

The final study in the series took place four months after the 2024 presidential election, and researchers followed up with all 752 participants who had completed the last wave of the second study. The purpose was to assess their ongoing political habits. The researchers were interested in whether the protective effects of bodily awareness would eventually lead to political apathy.

The results indicated that sustained political engagement between elections is critical for maintaining democratic values and holding leaders accountable.