2006-12-23 06:28:37 · 13 answers · asked by Danny s 1 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Pain & Pain Management
You eat too fast, slow down and enjoy. Less brain freeze.
2006-12-23 06:29:31 · answer #1 · answered by Rowdy Yayhoot 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I hate to cut and paste, but this is an excellent answer:
The terms brain freeze and ice cream headache refer to the same painful headache many people get when quickly eating something cold. The pain is caused by the rapid cooling of the roof of the mouth, which is close to the sphenopalatine nerve, a section of an extensive bundle of nerves running from the face up into the brain.
When this nerve gets cold, it fires off a danger signal that the entire head is about to become chilled and warns the vascular system to start pumping more blood to the brain to keep it warm. Vessels open up and the sudden in-rush of warm blood causes a painful sensation, which lasts anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. By that time the body has rewarmed the sphenopalantine nerve and the blood flow to the brain reduces to normal levels, stopping the pain.
The source of the pain has been described as being similar to that resulting from sticking hands chilled in winter into a bucket of warm water. The sudden increase in blood flow and associated expansion causes pain.
One third of all people are statistically susceptible to brain freezes. They are more often caused by eating ice cream than drinking an iced beverage because ice cream is colder than ice. Also, they are much more common when the weather is warm than when it's cold, suggesting that it's the rate or amount of temperature change that's important.
Brain freezes are called "referred pain" because the pain occurs in a location (the brain) that's different than the location of the stimulus (the roof of the mouth.)
The quickest way to relieve a brain freeze it to take a drink of warm water and hold it against the roof of your mouth. Since they are over so quickly anyway and it's unlikely that you're going to be holding a cup of hot water in one hand at the same time that you are holding an ice cream cone in the other, the next best thing to do is press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to rewarm the nerve.
Prevention is simple: eat and drink very cold foods slowly.
2006-12-23 06:31:52 · answer #2 · answered by Kal H 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The blood going through you neck gets cold and goes right up to
your head which interprets and reacts to the cold blood by sending a warning signal that something is wrong with "PAIN".
Eating slower will allow the ice cream to warm up and this won't happen.
But what fun is eating ice cream slowly?
2006-12-23 06:37:48 · answer #3 · answered by Dutch V 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Brain freeze.
Just eat slower and wait a bit for the ice cream to slightly soften.
2006-12-23 06:29:59 · answer #4 · answered by Rewind 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you referring to " brain freeze " ... that sharp, stabbing pain that starts at the bridge of your nose and moves up between the eyebrows and across the forehead ?
You're not alone ... lots of people ( including myself ) get those headaches from ice creme - even kids !
The following sites explain it in detail and also offer advice on how to avoid it from happening :
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ice-cream-headaches/DS00640
http://edition.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00640.html
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7378/1445
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/botrender.fcgi?blobtype=html&pubmedid=12493658
http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/ice_cream_headache.html
Hope these sites help - Best Wishes for the Holiday Season !!
2006-12-23 06:39:37 · answer #5 · answered by mutt_buffer 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's a nerve in the roof of your mouth that is sensitive to cold temperatures.
Simply keep ice cream away from the roof of your mouth. Life is good.
2006-12-23 06:30:23 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
its brain freeze -
don't eat the ice-cream quickly
eat it nice and slowly with glasses of water
that should do the trick
Happy ice-cream eating and a Merry Christmas to you! x
2006-12-23 06:33:43 · answer #7 · answered by FreakGirl 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When you eat cold things too fast it lowers your core body temp. When this occurs you will get a headache until your body warms up. Thus its called "brain freeze"
2006-12-23 06:29:50 · answer #8 · answered by novae2 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a nurse. This is referred to as a brain freeze. This happens when anything reaaly cold touches the soft part of the roof of your mouth. You are fine, this happens to everyone.
2006-12-23 06:31:13 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are eating it too quickly. They call it brain freeze. It can happen to all of us. So slow down on eating it.
2006-12-23 06:30:04 · answer #10 · answered by Fruit Cake Lady 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋