What exactly are "brain freezes?"?

Question

what exactly are they? i no that if u drink something down really fast thats cold u get them, but stil, wat causes them.
id appreciate a scientific answer

Answer 1

Brain freeze, ice cream headache, freezie, or Frozen Brain Syndrome are terms used to describe a form of cranial pain or headache which people are known to sometimes experience after consuming cold beverages or foods such as ice cream, often as a result of rapid consumption.

The reaction can be triggered within a few seconds after a very cold substance consumed comes into contact with the roof of the mouth. This irritates nerves in the region (sphenopalatine ganglia), causing them to spasm. These nerves cause the blood vessels in the brain to dilate. When vessels in the brain dilate, a common effect is an acute headache (a similar effect occurs when one takes a prescription vasodilator, such as Nitroglycerin or Viagra). It is a stabbing or aching type of pain that usually recedes after 10-20 seconds after its onset, but sometimes 30-60 seconds, and can persist for up to 5 minutes in rare cases. The pain is usually located in the midfrontal area, but can be unilateral in the temporal, frontal, or retro-orbital region.

It has been reported that the pain can be relieved by moving the tongue to the roof of the mouth, which will cause greater warmth in the region; it is also believed that the pain can be relieved by slowly sipping room temperature water. Laying the head to the side may also provide relief. The pain may be avoided in the first place simply by eating the cold food or beverage more slowly.

A report was submitted to the British Medical Journal on brain freeze; it focused on the effect of speed of consumption of ice cream on causing brain freeze. Comonly refered to as "Ice cream headaches," it has been studied as an example of referred pain.

It has been estimated that 30% of the population experiences brain freeze. Some Studies suggest that brainfreeze is more common in people who experience migraines. Raskin and Knittle found this to be the case, with brainfreeze occurring in 93% of migraine sufferers and in only 31% of controls. However, other studies found that it's more common in people without migraines. These inconsistencies may be due to differences in subject selection–the subjects of the first study were drawn from a hospital population, whereas the controls in the second were student volunteers.

Answer 2

A Brain Freeze is when you drink or eat something really cold it freezes your brain to be cold and then you should give it a break cause its that cold.That's what a brain freeze is .

Answer 3

It's a pain that you get sometimes, in the back of the neck or the head, when you eat or drink something that is extremely cold. It's also known as an "ice-cream headache".

Answer 4

Buy a large 7-11 slurpee and suck it down as fast as you can. That will be a brain freeze and it is painful!

Answer 5

Buy a large slurpee.

Suck it down real fast.

That will answer the question.