Why Do We Get Brain Freeze?

We all know what an ice cream headache feels like. Christian's here to explain why they happen. It involves temperature (duh), nerves and lots of blood.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain stuff,
it's Christian Seger. We get headaches for a lot of reasons.
Sometimes foods like chocolate, cheese, or cured meat can cause them.
Other times it's stress or maybe changes in our sleep habits.
Headaches are also caused by eye strain, sinus problems, coughing,

(00:26):
and even sex. And if you're really unlucky, they're a
sign of neurological problems. But do you know what causes
headaches and over one third of the population ice cream?
Diabolical evil ice cream otherwise known as a brain freeze
or a quote cold stimulus headache in more lofty circles.

(00:48):
The ice cream headache only requires two things. First, something
cold touching the roof of your mouth, and second, a
hot environment like a summer day or a sauna or
a yoga class full of sweaty people. That's where we
all usually eat ice cream. Right. Brain freeze is caused
by both a constriction and dilation of the blood vessels

(01:10):
in your head. There's a nerve center just above your mouth,
and when it gets cold, it signals the anterior cerebral
artery to widen, trying to heat your brain with warm blood.
Since the skull is a closed structure, the sudden rush
of blood could be increasing pressure, which causes the pain

(01:30):
we feel. It's kind of a horrible stabbing achey feeling,
but the warm air around you causes these blood vessels
to restrict again, relieving the pain about ten to twenty
seconds after its onset. This experience is reportedly similar to
a migraine headache, albeit a very short one. It's possible

(01:52):
the influx of blood is supposed to protect your brain
from extreme cold. The pain is usually in the mid
frontal area, but it can be unilateral in other parts
of the brain. But don't worry. Experts say that ice
cream isn't going to give you brain damage or anything.
In fact, when they're correcting aneurysms, doctors sometimes lower your

(02:13):
brain temperature down to sixty four degrees fahrenheit or seventeen
point eight degrees celsius. So ice cream ain't no thing,
except there's only one cure for brain freeze. Never eat
ice cream again. No, I'm just kidding. In one article
about these headaches, a researcher actually said ice cream abstinence

(02:34):
is not indicated, so keep eating all the ice cream
you want, but slow it down a bit there, Hoss.
Try to eat in small bites and avoid the roof
of your mouth. Also, you may be more likely to
get brain freeze if you already get migraines. The science
isn't confirmed on that, but since the vascular response of
ice cream headaches is similar to the experience of migraine sufferers,

(02:58):
they may be are vulnerable. Researchers are investigating this connection
now in hopes of developing even better painkillers. Check out
the brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this
and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.