Can anyone explain to me why is it that when we drink cold beverages we experience a painful sensation in the head- what we call brain freeze-?
2007-02-12 23:30:10 · 8 answers · asked by p319 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
When you consume a VERY cold substance and it comes in contact with the roof of your mouth, the blood flow to this area reduces and blood vessels shrink..this is to minimize heat loss. After this process, the vessels return to normal and go through a process of "massive dialation" (which is painful) and your nerves transmit this pain back to the area around your forehad. I guess you could compare it to staring into bright light RIGHT after coming out of pitch black.
For future reference, you can reduce the pain of a brain freeze by moving your tongue to the roof of your mouth, warming the area and reducing the shrinking of blood vessels.
2007-02-12 23:38:22 · answer #1 · answered by Kim 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The standard medical term for this phenomenon is "ice cream headache"--an expression so clear and comprehensible it obviously was settled on by mistake. Probably that accounts for the scarcity of research on this universal (well, pretty darn common) human condition. One recalls the attention given some years back to a complaint someone had been shrewd enough to name "hypoglycemia." Can you see getting big money to study Folks Feeling Vaguely Punk?
Ice cream headache occurs most frequently after you've worked up a sweat or during very hot weather. Typically it starts when you cram too much cold stuff into the roof of your mouth. It reaches a peak in 25 to 30 seconds that can last from several seconds to a couple minutes. Most people feel it deep in the front of the head, although if the ice cream gets stuck in the vicinity of the tonsils you may feel the pain behind your ears. Cold farther down the throat produces no headache.
The cause of ice cream headache is far from clear. One plausible explanation is that the cold causes constriction of blood vessels near the point of contact, which in turn causes the blood to back up painfully inside the head.
Ice cream headache occurs in maybe a third of the general population but in over 90 percent of migraine sufferers, who feel it in the same place they get migraines. (Many migraine victims take precautions with frozen desserts for just that reason.) Researchers believe migraine and ice cream headache are physiologically similar, the difference being that migraine sufferers are abnormally sensitive to stimuli the rest of us ignore. As for what would happen if you applied the cold continuously, I imagine a migraine sufferer could give you a pretty graphic description. I don't expect it'd be fun.
2007-02-12 23:33:30 · answer #2 · answered by They call me ... Trixie. 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"ideas freeze" is the discomfort sometimes inflicted via devouring some thing chilly like ice cream or a chilly beverage, many times very right this moment. The reaction is (of course) introduced on via the chilly ice cream or beverage; getting into touch with the roof of the mouth. It triggers nerves that supply the ideas the impact of an exceedingly chilly atmosphere. To warmth up the ideas lower back, blood vessels start to swell, which motives the headache-like discomfort for about 30 seconds. The temperature exchange interior the roof of the mouth ought to be truly drastic; this is why ideas freeze many times happens on heat days. The discomfort would be relieved via putting the tongue to the roof of the mouth, which logically will warmth it up.
2016-09-29 01:22:49 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
simple!!! just put your head in a freezer for 15 mins, soon you will understand that what lil blood vessels you had in your head gets dilated, triggering a headache and causing your nerve center to over-react by trying to heat your brains up.
Offcourse by then it wouldnt make a difference if you knew the result or not. heheheh wanna avoid it, keep your head away from fridges and freezers!!!!!!
2007-02-12 23:41:43 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The back of the throat is very close to all the major nerves that run to your brain. When you drink cold drinks, it makes these nerves very cold, and causing you to get a headache.
2007-02-12 23:33:56 · answer #5 · answered by The Enlightened One 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
its a chemical reaction.... your blood vessels are actually doing the opposite, its sort of closing uthen up ti keep the heat in to compensate for the cold, thats the pain you feel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_freeze
2007-02-12 23:35:37 · answer #6 · answered by Trac2100 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This person above me (1st answer) is an idiot; I think this is a very interesting question! Sorry I don't know the answer, but I'll keep a watch on this question.
2007-02-12 23:34:22 · answer #7 · answered by mattysmommy2004 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
your brain doesnt work!
2007-02-12 23:32:30 · answer #8 · answered by eringerran 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋