Why does ice cream make your brain freeze?

Answer 1

I scream, you scream, we all scream for . . . ow! That cone of vanilla fudge swirl has done it again: The sweet treat has quickly given you a bad headache. But don't blame the ice cream. It's the roof of your mouth, your nerves, and your blood vessels (blood vessels are tiny tubes that carry blood through your body) that are to blame!

Here's the scoop on what happens. When you eat or drink, food or liquid touches your palate (say: pah-lit) before you swallow. Your palate is also known as the roof of your mouth. You can feel your palate with your tongue.

When something very cold touches the center of the palate, the cold temperature can set off certain nerves that control how much blood flows to your head. The nerves respond by causing the blood vessels in the head to swell up. This quick swelling of the blood vessels is what causes your head to pound and hurt. Some people call this a "brain freeze," even though nothing is really happening in the brain - it's all in the blood vessels of the head.

And ice cream isn't the only food that can make your head hurt. Anything that's very cold, like ice pops, slushy frozen drinks, and even cold soda, water, milk, or juice can make the blood vessels swell.

A headache from ice cream or another cold food usually lasts about a minute or so, although it can feel like much longer. This kind of headache almost never lasts more than 5 minutes, and it goes away on its own. And although you may feel pain, it's not dangerous and doesn't mean that anything is wrong in your body.

Want to lick your ice cream headaches? Some doctors say that simply eating cold foods more slowly can help prevent brain freeze. You can also try warming foods up a tiny bit in the front of your mouth before swallowing them. And if you start to feel an ice cream headache coming on, you may be able to slow it down by holding your tongue against your palate. This will warm up your palate a little so you can enjoy the rest of your chilly dessert.

Answer 2

this is because the nerves in the roof of your mouth go directly to the brain, eating cold ice cream too quickly will cause these nerves to spasm hence the "brain freeze". Licking the roof of your mouth with your tongue can usually help to get rid of this.

Answer 3

I actually had this question on a test (for extra credit) by my Anat Phys instructor! When you eat ice cream, and it presses against the roof of your mouth, where there are major blood vessels, it is actually cooling the blood in the major blood vessels to your head/brain and the constriction/dilation of the vessels combined with temp change of the blood itself, causes the headache.

Answer 4

The cold goes straight from the nerves in your mouth to the brain which tells the blood vessels to constrict. That's where you get ice cream headaches from. Same thing applies if you're the type whose nose hurts from eating ice cream.

Answer 5

It's the sudden change in temp. to the roof of your mouth. When it happens, rub your tongue back and forth across the roof of your mouth and it will go away.

Answer 6

because your eating it too fast try slowing down and taking your time on it and eat it too fast or mega brain freeze....been there done that no fun...

Answer 7

cauze it is cold
DUH!