Brain Freeze: TIL Why We Get Icecream Headaches!

It's a wonderful, hot summer day and all you want is a delicious ice cream treat to feel refreshed.

But as soon as you eat the first spoon full of that ice cream, you feel a sharp headache at the front of your head!

This phenomenon is commonly called "Brain Freeze" or "Ice cream headache".
The scientific name for it is cold-stimulus-headache, or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.

But why is eating something cold causing a headache? Does it come with any negative side effects, and how do you get rid of it?

When do Brain Freeze headaches occur?

Brain Freeze headaches accure mostly when you eat or drink something very cold very quickly, that then touches the roof of your mouth. The effect is even more likely to appear when your surroundings are warm/hot.
If you already experience migranes frequently, you might be more prone to getting brain freezes as well - but this is still a suggestion by scientists and hasn't been proven yet.

What exactly happens in your body during a Brain Freeze?

Two of your most important arteries that supply the brain with blood are located right next to the roof of your mouth: The internal carotid artery (which connects bloodflow directly to the brain), and the anterior cerebral artery (which runs along the front area of your brain, and is also where your brain tissue starts).
When you eat or drink something ice cold that touches the roof of your mouth, they contract heavily.
To your body, it's a signal as if you were suddenly freezing to death.

Since these arteries are directly connected to the brain, and your body doesn't want your brain to get too cold, it reacts by sending huge amounts of warm blood flow to your brain and expanding the blood vessels, trying to regulate the temperature.

But all the excess blood is being pressed in your brain has nowhere to go, so the suddenly created pressure creates a short, sharp pain in the meninges - the outer cover of your brain, and the place where those two main arteries connect.

But you don't actually feel your brain there, in the lower part of your brain. The pain signal has to travel through the trigeminal nerve first (which is the biggest nerve we have in our brains!). This is a very important nerve which is in control over all sensations in your face area.
So this means that you feel the sharp pain in a different area of your face: right behind the eyes, or close to the forehead.
After only 10-20 seconds, the blood vessels contract again, and the pain disappears again.

Is a Brain freeze harmful?

No! The brain freeze has no negative or damaging effects on your brain health, so don't worry.
If you want the feeling to disappear faster, you can just drink something warm or press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to allow it to warm up again, which will relieve the pain.

How can you avoid brain freeze?

Try not to eat frozen foods to quickly, or let them warm up in your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing.
Also, you can make sure that the ice-cold food or drink doesn't touch the roof of your mouth, but rather stays on the front part of your tongue.

Brain Freeze is totally harmless, and if the ice cream is delicious enough, that short pain might even be worth it! Do you experience Brain Freeze frequently?

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

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Sirwinchester