Why does eating or drinking cold things give you "brain freeze"?

Answer 1

The cold on the hard palate triggers a neurogenic signal that dilates blood vessels feeding the brain... painfully.

Not everyone experiences this (only about 1/3 of the population), and it is correlated with susceptibility for ocular migraines.

Aloha

Answer 2

Ice cream headaches, a.k.a. brain freeze, are caused when quickly-eaten cold foods come into contact with the roof your mouth. Since the mouth doesn't have time to warm up when eating or drinking quickly, the nerve center there panics and sends signals to your brain that indicate the body is freezing. Blood rushes to the brain and the eater feels a sharp, stabbing type of pain that lasts anywhere from 30-60 seconds in most people.

Strangely, ice cream is the most commonly cited cause for head pain, but it can be avoided easily. Most people feel that positioning the cold foods at the sides of your mouth will prevent brain freeze. This allows the food to warm up slightly before coming into contact with the roof of your mouth. If you're drinking something frozen, like a smoothie, don't aim the straw directly at the roof of your mouth, either. The other "cure" is simply to eat more slowly.

Answer 3

Here's what Wikpedia says:

The reaction can be sometimes triggered within a few seconds after a very cold substance consumed comes into contact with the roof of the mouth. This activates nerves in the region (sphenopalatine ganglia), causing 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[1], 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. 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. Commonly referred to as "ice cream headaches," it has been studied as an example of referred pain,[2] an unpleasant sensation localised to an area separate from the site of the painful stimulation

It has been estimated that 30% of the population experiences brain freeze.[3] 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 is 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 4

The answer is quite simple. You have two major arteries that run up your neck to your brain. they are called the coritid arteries.
When you drink something ice cold too fast, these arteries contrict and for a brief period your brain does not get enough blood. As your normal body temperature re- heats the area, the blood flow is restored and your headache goes away.
It is not actually a "brain freeze" - it is more of a neck freeze.
HERE ENDTH THE LESSON.

Answer 5

Simply put, Brainfreeze occurs when the Slurpee (or anything cold) touches the roof of your mouth, the collection of nerves in the roof of your mouth (called the spheno-palantine ganglion) go into a spasm (a spasm is like a cramp). These nerves tell the brain blood vessels to get bigger or "dilate". When our brain's blood vessels get big, we get headaches.

Answer 6

My son asked his doctor years ago. It has something to do with the nerve endings in the throat. The body gets tricked and sends pain signals to the brain, it thinks it is cold in the brain instead of the throat so people don't choke.

Answer 7

because its cold and some nerves that you have are sensitive of cold giving you a brain freeze

Answer 8

at the roof of your mouth there are nerves that are super close to the brain...freezing those nerves sends the message of pain to your head...and to get rid of it? hold your tounge on the roof of your mouth to warm it up...should only take a couple of seconds!!!

Answer 9

The roof of your mouth gets frozen causing the discomfort. Try pressing your warm tongue to the roof of your mouth and holding it there for a couple mins. That always helps! =-]

Answer 10

Think about how close the roots of your upper teeth are to your brain. They're right there.