Ah, Brain Freeze!!!!

The excruciating moment after taking a sip of your favorite cold soft drink or a bite on an ice cream, that kind of half-blissful, half torturous headache which makes you shut your eyes and reach for your temples. That is Brain Freeze. The pain usually last up to 30 seconds, but for some people it could last up to five minutes. Though symptoms are short-lived, they are harsh enough to prevent a repeat..

Understanding Brain freeze

Brain Freeze is also known as an ice cream headache and medically as Spheno Palatine Gangleoneuralgia (pronouncing this can give a headache as well). It seems strange that what starts in the mouth should make the head hurt, but that’s due to a little nerve confusion. 

   Brain freeze normally happens when the weather is very hot and the individual consumes something very cold too fast. It is caused by a dramatic and sudden increase in blood flow through the brain's anterior cerebral artery. As soon as the artery constricted, the brain-freeze pain sensation wore off. When a cold food or beverage touches the roof of the mouth, the blood vessels constrict — or shrink. Almost immediately, the tiny vessels begin to dilate (expand) again, allowing blood to rush back in an attempt to warm up your mouth — akin to when your cheeks turn a rosy hue after spending a prolonged amount of time outside in the winter. The “headache” that follows is triggered when the pain receptors in your mouth signal your brain using the nerves in your face. The result: pain in your forehead, or as most proclaim, “Ahh, brain freeze!” Previous studies have found that migraine sufferers are actually more likely to get brain freeze than people who don't get migraines. The good news is that it sounds quite scary, but a brain freeze does not actually freeze your brain and it causes no damage to your brain whatsoever. 

How to prevent Brain freeze

The only way to prevent brain freeze is to eat cold things slowly, letting our mouths get used to the temperature instead of shoveling it in. Of course, most of us are more likely to do the latter when it’s hot and we want to cool off. Luckily, the pain passes quickly, with most ice cream headaches lasting thirty seconds to a minute at most, though they can go on as long as five minutes. 

If your head throbbing is too intense to stand, there are a few methods to raise the temperature in your mouth and get rid of the ache. Try putting your tongue against the roof of your mouth to quiet the nerve activity there. Drinking a warm beverage like tea or hot water will have the same effect, perhaps even a bit faster. Anything you can do to make the mouth a hotter environment will stop the headache from progressing. But since they’re momentary events for most of us, it might be best just to wait it out. 

Tips: Try not swallowing too much cold food at once. Savor it and breathe-in between each mouthful.