Ice Cream Brain Freeze – Fact Or Myth

There you are eating an ice cream and maybe a little faster than what you should have been which causes a pain in the brain. Why does that happen and what can you do about it to get rid of what is known as the “brain freeze”.

Well when something cold touches the roof of your mouth it is making something that was fairly warm very cold and very quickly so the body responds duly. Basically the blood vessels swell up in an attempt to make the mouth warm again. This in hand triggers your pain receptors which release something called prostaglandins which increase sensitivity to further pain and help inflame or swell the area that is affected.

The brain freeze will generally hit around 10 to 15 seconds after you have had the ice cream touch the palate of your mouth and not everyone suffers with it. In fact only around 30% of people suffer with brain freeze.

In some people the headache can last just a few minutes and in others sometimes for hours. So how can you stop the brain freeze?

Generally the best way to stop brain freeze is to not wolf down anything extra cold (or hot) and another way that you can prevent the headache from sticking around is to use your tongue to warm up your palate again.

Also don’t forget that wolfing something down fast and not chewing or eating something correctly can cause many other problems with your tummy etc. Isn’t it far better to take your time and enjoy your ice cream?