When you drink something cold, too fast, what exactly causes a brain freeze?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Your body shrinks the blood vessels in the top of your mouth when it comes into contact with something cold to help your body retain heat, then when the cold is gone it lets them return to normal size, the nerves in the area relay this as pain to the brain and that is what causes a brain freeze.

Answer 3

When something cold touches the roof of your mouth on a hot day, it triggers a cold headache. The cause is a dilation of blood vessels in the head. The dilation may be caused by a nerve center located above the roof of your mouth -- when this nerve center gets cold, it seems to over-react and tries to heat your brain.

Answer 4

The senses at the back of the mouth where the throat begins get very cold and send an over whelming sensation to the brain.

Answer 5

the back of your throat is very sensitive to temperature. When you swallow the cold drink too quickly it touches the back of your throat and in turn it gets to your spine which is just behind your throat. Your spine freaks out and sends a rogue signal to your brain, making it feel all headachey, and some of the chill from your spine travels up to your head making it feel cold.

Answer 6

Blood vessels swelling up to bring warm blood to the brain because your brain thinks it is in a cold environment.

Answer 7

The nerves in your mouth think you're head is getting cold and freezing so they send pain to your head, I'd assume to alert you.

Answer 8

In your nostrils, a part of your brain hangs out, and is very receptive to temp.