What Really Causes Brain Freeze?
- Posted on July 5, 2012 at 6:03am by
Liz Klimas
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Brain freeze: a condition that occurs when quickly eating or drinking a cold item, resulting in a painful but temporary headache. Although almost anyone could tell you what brain freeze is and what causes it, no one knows exactly what happens biologically to link this shock of cold in your mouth to a pain in your head.
Researching brain freeze could provide clues as to how other headaches are caused. (Photo: Shutterstock)
NPR recently set up its own experiment to illustrate how eating a Popsicle too fast may give you a pain at the front of your forehead. The experiment was hosted by Jorge Serrador with the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, which is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs in East Orange, N.J., who studies brain freeze in order to gain better understanding about how headaches are caused in general.
Watch NPR’s video of the experiment:
As Serrador explains in the report, there are several theories as to what causes brain freeze, including the fact that there is a nerve in the roof of your mouth leading to the brain that when over stimulated by the cold could send a painful message. It could also be caused by an increased blood flow to the brain that causes “localized pressure,” which could result in a headache.
Earlier this year, CBS reported a study where Serrador and other scientists combined these two ideas:
[...] researchers induced brain freeze in 13 healthy adults by having them sip ice cold water with a straw on their upper palate. The researchers monitored participants’ blood flow in their brains with a “transcranial Doppler test,” and found the sudden headache seems to be triggered by an abrupt increase in blood flow on the brain’s anterior cerebral artery. The pain disappears when that artery constricts, an effect researchers reproduced by having participants drink warm water.
[...]
Why does this increase in blood flow occur? The researchers think the brain is adapting to the “freeze” through a self-defense mechanism.
“The brain is one of the relatively important organs in the body, and it needs to be working all the time,” study co-author Dr. Jorge Serrador, a cardiovascular electronics researcher at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a written statement. “It’s fairly sensitive to temperature, so vasodilation might be moving warm blood inside tissue to make sure the brain stays warm.”
Food Republic takes on a slightly different theory, which is that the blood vessels in your mouth constrict in response to the drastic temperature drop and then quickly expand again. Upon expansion, which would allow blood flow again to warm up the mouth, the pain receptors in your mouth send a signal to the brain alerting it of pain.
Until we know exactly what causes the brain freeze, the condition can at least be prevented: eat cold foods and drink cold drinks slower.
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HelloWorld
Posted on July 9, 2012 at 6:15pmPerhaps this gentleman should have consulted a physician prior to wasting our time. Very impressive results. This man is affiliated with the War Related Illness and the Injury Study Center. “No one knows what causes it?” Is he kidding?
Report Post »BehindTheMouth
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 3:54pmRealizing you voted for Oblunder in ‘08
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 7:24pmBeverages in excess of the approved 16oz limit.
Report Post »Dave In Arizona
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 3:36pmBeing a liberal is probably a good start.
Report Post »Dano32839
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 2:46pmI think INDYSPORTPILOT got it right.
Report Post »At least that is what I always thought was going on. Makes the most sense.
Wool-Free Vision
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 1:11pmI can’t help wondering how many tax dollars went toward funding this absolutely useless research.
Report Post »MIldman
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 12:57pmFunny thing, I never get brain freeze. Don’t know why.
Report Post »FreedomsBlessings
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 2:13pmDo you have a steep pallet (roof of your mouth)?
I’ve never gotten brain freeze either…. however, I do get “heart” freeze. My family teases me that I have no brain to freeze, so it has to go to my heart. I have a VERY STEEP pallet, so we have surmised that the cold doesn’t get to the roof of my mouth, but rather goes straight to my chest. I‘ve never heard of anyone else who hasn’t had brain freeze! Nice to meet you!
Report Post »SquareHead
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 12:13pmYou can prevent a brain freeze by not breathing in through your nose while ingesting something cold. Drink a cold slurpee and try to take a deep breath through your nose and you will get an instant brain freeze. on the other hand do the same thing and pinch your nose so you won’t breath in through nose and you are allot less likely to get a brain freeze..
To me it appears to be the vessels in your sinuses that are most likely to cause the brain freeze.
I was hoping to get some information of value from this article, but NO, another lame article, to eat up space from information that could go to some more useful information :(
So to assist The Blaze from becoming more and more irrelevant in the preservation of liberty, here is a clip for you about Agenda 21 that is a must see for all:
Report Post »http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GykzQWlXJs&feature=player_embedded
Gonzo
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:19amTake the popsicles away from Obama, he’s been in brain freeze for at least the last 4 years.
Report Post »Inlandmar2
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:36amHow come you don’t get brain freeze in the winter when it is cold?
Report Post »oldsoldier10
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:24amWhat Really Causes Brain Freeze?————————> GEORGE BUSH! that S0B!
Report Post »Inlandmar2
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:37amYeah!…..He was so far ahead of the libs that their brain froze from overload. Too much common sense makes libs brain shut down!
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:22amCold stuff.
Report Post »Chucksopinion
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:20amWhatever the cause, I have found that by constricting the blood flow to the brain (ie partially choking yourself lightly for a few seconds with your hand around your neck) works fast to stop the brain freeze. Some may think it is a joke but it really does work. Besides it looks better to seem to be checking your pulse rather than sucking your thumb…
Report Post »oldsoldier10
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:28amAh yes, most liberals and democrats often resort to the good ole neck tourniquet. Minimal constrictive pressure is required to placate most libs… less your beastly mustachioed femanazi
Report Post »IndySportPilot
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 9:03amIt seems so obvious to me, but not to these scientists? It’s the worst with a slushy for me and I believe the reason is the ice moving through the esophagus slowly significantly cooling the blood in the arteries to the brain. I’ve never tried constricting the blood flow with pressure on those arteries with your fingers, but I’d bet it would help pretty quickly. The pallet idea I think is way off as my solution to avoid brain freeze is to melt the ice mixture down a little before swallowing so it can move faster past that arterial area.
Report Post »beverlee
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 7:02amNext time you get brain freeze, press the skin-side of your thumb against the top of your mouth and hold. It warms up your pallette quickly.
Report Post »burnteye86
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 6:43amNext burning question: What really causes Brain Fart?
Report Post »Inlandmar2
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 8:49amEasy answer……Believing what Democrats say.
Report Post »historyguy48
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 6:38amI am shocked! I was unaware that liberals had a brain, let alone that it was large enough to freeze. Perhaps in their case it was more of an instinctual reaction to cold, kind of like Pavlovs dogs responding to the bell!
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 6:32amBlood vessels changing size (dialating and constricting) is what causes migraines. I have to admit, though, I thought this was going to be about when your brain freezes, as in stops momentarily and you can’t remember something…
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