How many senses do we have, really? And exactly what is our sixth sense?

 Traditionally, we think of ourselves as having five senses. Sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste. However, what about other senses? What about that elusive 'sixth sense' or other senses that we don't usually count? Apart from being a well-known movie, the sixth sense is sometimes named as proprioception, sometimes as sharper intuition and sometimes simply as a way of getting more in touch with your other regular senses. If you're not entirely keen on seeing dead people but would like to figure out more about the ways in which you experience the world, then this article is for you. How many senses do we have, really? And exactly what is our sixth sense?

Have you ever considered balance as a sense? How about the before-mentioned proprioception, or the ability to know where your body is. Think about walking in between two parked cars and knowing you won't hit either. What about sensing things like pain, wetness, heat, air temperature? While perhaps pain or feeling if something is wet, dry, hot or cold can be called touch, our sense of whether it is a warm day or a cold day, a humid or a dry one, need have nothing to do with touch. This sense of the outside temperature equally doesn't have much to do with sight or smell, hearing or taste. Is this then our sixth sense? But, what about our sense of hunger or thirst? We know when we're hungry or thirsty and not just because smelling our favourite drink or good food being prepared makes us realise that we're thirsty or hungry. Even when not confronted with smells or tastes that remind us that really we are hungry, we know because something inside us tells us. Would this then be our sixth sense? Or our seventh, eighth, ninth or tenth sense?

According to a Considerable.com article, "Humans have a lot more than five senses - here are 18" we humans have, you guessed it, at least eighteen different senses.

The basic sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch are the first five and the ones we're most familiar with. 

The article also names for instance pressure, temperature, pain and itch as separate senses, distinct from (yet clearly related to) touch. Then, there's thermoception, our ability to sense heat and cold in the environment around us. Proprioception or the sense that tells us where our body parts are relative to other body parts. The ability to close your eyes and then touch the tip of your nose with your finger is your proprioception at work.

Have you ever thought of your ability to sense gravity, acceleration and directional changes as a proper sense? If not, start now! As the article explains "This sensory system is found in your inner ears and is called the vestibular labyrinthine system. Anyone who’s ever had this sense go out on them knows how important it is. When it’s not working or malfunctioning, you literally can’t tell up from down. Moving from one location to another without aid is nearly impossible." 

https://www.considerable.com/health/healthy-living/humans-five-senses/