One moment you're gulping down the most delicious milkshake you've ever had, and the next, your head is pulsating in horrible pain. All good things must come to a conclusion, they say, but why does it have to be such a terrible one? The mind-aching side effect of indulging just a little too much in your desired icy treat actually has a scientific name: "Sphenopalatine ganglion neuralgia".
While sphenopalatine ganglion neuralgia probably means nothing to you, it means a lot to doctors and researchers that have spent time trying to know why brain freezes occur. When you place something ice-cold in your mouth and let it come in contact with your soft tongue, it touches a tiny bundle of nerves near the back of your mouth. This collection of nerves we can all thank for the brain freeze effect is called the "sphenopalatine ganglion", or " SPG". It is sensitive to changes in temperature and when it's stimulated by an icy treat, it causes a headache.
The stark and painful reaction to cold is actually called biological reaction to keep your brain at the right temperature. When you drink or eat something too cold, it immediately cools the area at the back of your throat, which is home to the junction of two important blood veins: the internal carotid artery that feeds blood to your brain, and the anterior cerebral artery, which is where brain tissue begins. It's also where you all find the SPG. The temperature shock effects these arteries to immediately dilate and contract, which triggers the SPG and sends a message to your brain by the trigeminal nerve to let it know that you are experiencing pain.
The pain of brain freeze is not in your brain, as the brain does not have any pain-sensing fibers. However, receptors in the outer covering of the brain described the meninges, do. That is why brain freeze will often occur somewhere completely separate from your mouth: This nerve signal moves all the way to the meninges on the top of your head, beginning a painful headache.
All this apparently misplaced pain is just your head trying to figure out what is going on. Biologically, this pain response is similar to what people going by a heart attack feel. During a heart attack, you do not feel like your heart is hurting; first, it is your shoulder and your left side that hurt. This transferred pain is a result of your brain doing its best to understand and communicate what is wrong using the pain sensors it has.
In the case of brain freeze, this headache reaction is helpful: It keeps us from eating extra ice cream, thus keeping the mind temperature at a healthy state. The brain usually likes to stay in a resting range of 98.6 to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (37 to 38 degrees Celsius), but it can get much colder without damage under direction. Surgeons will usually chill the brain to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) to improve circulation and other brain issues with no permanent damage, but all under sedation. Ultimately, the SPG is in place to help defend the brain from slipping out of its optimal state, but it can handle the shock for a little while. If you can deal with the skull-aching pain of a brain freeze, you can keep slurping if you did like.
Now that you know a little more about the functionality and cause of brain freeze, how do you stop it? The safest way for treating mind freeze once you have it is to press your tongue or thumb on the roof of your mouth. The heat of your tongue or thumb immediately heats the SPG, which then tells the brain to stop the pain response. You can also cover your mouth and nose and breathe into your hands to circulate hot air, which can also increase the temperature of your soft palate. You can also attempt and prevent brain freeze in the first place. Let is try eating the cold food near the front of your mouth, away from the SPG, or just enjoy it more slowly to give your palate time to fix. Who is waiting for a milkshake?
