Harvard Medical School scientists who say they have a better idea of
what causes brain freeze, believe that their study could eventually pave
the way to more effective treatments for various types of headaches
, such as migraine-related ones, or pain caused by brain injuries.
Brain freeze, also known as an ice-cream headache or cold-stimulus headache has the very long scientific name of sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. It is a kind of short-term headache typically linked to the rapid consumption of ice-cream, ice pops, or very cold drinks.
Brain freeze can occur if you eat an ice cream too fast
Brain freeze occurs when something extremely cold touches the
upper-palate (roof of the mouth). It normally happens when the weather
is very hot, and the individual consumes something too fast.
Dr. Jorge Serrador, a cardiovascular electronics researcher, who presented the team's finding at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting, San Diego, explained that until now, scientists have not been able to fully understand what causes brain freeze.
Dr. Serrador and team recruited 13 healthy adult volunteers. They were asked to sip ice-cold water through a straw, so that the liquid would hit their upper palate. Blood flow in their brain was monitored using a transcranial Doppler test.
They found that the sensation of brain freeze appears to be caused by a dramatic and sudden increase in blood flow through the brain's anterior cerebral artery. As soon as the artery constricted, the brain-freeze pain sensation wore off.
The scientists were able to trigger the artery's constriction by giving the volunteers warm water to drink (a good tip for getting rid of brain freeze).
Brain freeze, also known as an ice-cream headache or cold-stimulus headache has the very long scientific name of sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. It is a kind of short-term headache typically linked to the rapid consumption of ice-cream, ice pops, or very cold drinks.
Brain freeze can occur if you eat an ice cream too fast
Dr. Jorge Serrador, a cardiovascular electronics researcher, who presented the team's finding at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting, San Diego, explained that until now, scientists have not been able to fully understand what causes brain freeze.
Dr. Serrador and team recruited 13 healthy adult volunteers. They were asked to sip ice-cold water through a straw, so that the liquid would hit their upper palate. Blood flow in their brain was monitored using a transcranial Doppler test.
They found that the sensation of brain freeze appears to be caused by a dramatic and sudden increase in blood flow through the brain's anterior cerebral artery. As soon as the artery constricted, the brain-freeze pain sensation wore off.
The scientists were able to trigger the artery's constriction by giving the volunteers warm water to drink (a good tip for getting rid of brain freeze).