Allostatic interoception and brain health: From neurodegeneration to social adversities

Brain health and disease emerge from complex interactions of internal organismic patterns and environmental stressors. We present a framework integrating allostasis (the organism’s responses to external demands) and interoception (the sense of body signals) to understand disparate brain health processes from neurodegeneration to social adversities (social determinants of health, socioeconomic status). Synergetic predictive coding frameworks involving hierarchal interactions describe the blending of biological and environmental determinants across cerebral, cardiocerebral, peripheral biomarkers, and psychological levels. We discuss the (a) specific measures to study allostatic interoception, (b) main questions to understand biological-environmental interactions, and (c) consequent dimensional, transnosological approaches to brain health.