Ever Wondered how brain freeze works?

A hot summer day and you just wanted to enjoy your cold milkshake or ice cream, but what did you get out of it? PAIN. Sharp awful pain in the forehead. It's commonly known as the 'Brain freeze' or the ice cream headache. But the worst part of this is that not everyone gets it. That's right. Some people can gobble up all the ice cream they want and walk away as nothing happened. Ever wondered what causes this? 

 Obviously, we know it's because of eating cold food. So when the cold substance touches the roof of the mouth and/or the back of the throat, the change in temperature triggers a nerve known as the trigeminal nerve. This nerve carries sensory information from the face and around the head to the brain. These nerves tend to cause pain not at one point but over an area. In this case between the forehead and temple. 

As the nerve gets triggered, blood vessels at the back of the throat constrict because of the cooling. To adjust to this change in temperature, more blood is passed through the affected area now causing the blood vessels to swell. It is believed that this fast constriction and expansion of the blood vessel is what causes the pain. Why "believed"? Well, that's because the exact reason or mechanism of brain freeze is still not known. This is the most probable explanation that is available as of now. It's the same principle for why your hands and feet hurt in very cold temperatures. Excess blood flow to warm up your feet causes the swelling blood vessels to transmit that throbbing pain.

Brain freeze is essentially a headache that comes in very fast and goes away at the same rate. But why doesn't everyone get it? Doesn't everyone have the same nerve and blood vessels? Well, the only reason for this is sensitivity. Some people's nerves tend to be slightly more sensitive thus causing this problem. As a matter of fact, it is seen that people who experience brain freeze are also more likely to have experienced migraines. 

Typically brain freeze lasts for 20-30 seconds and is not considered a serious problem. But the biting pain is not a nice experience too. There are ways to stop brain freezes from happening. One way is to simply drink warm water to regulate the temperature. Another way is to push your tongue to the roof of the mouth to again, regulate temperature. A brain freeze is essentially the brain warning you to take things slow with the ice cream. So slowing down while eating also helps from brain freeze setting in.

So if your someone who gets brain freeze, take the cold stuff slow.