There are good chances that you may have experienced an ice cream headache but low chances that you’ve heard this term before. It occurs when you eat or drink something extremely cold that touches your mouth’s surface; it signals your brain to freeze for a few minutes. If you don’t know what meaning is, what causes it, symptoms, and ways to prevent it, this blog can be helpful for you.
Brain Freeze Meaning
Brain freeze meaning is that you gets a headache when you eat or drink something
extremely cold like brain freeze ice cream & desserts. In response to this, your body makes an effort to warm up your mouth and throat. Due to this, your blood vessels may expand much, causing discomfort. During this, the blood flow increases, and your brain receives a signal of pain.
Ice cream headache just hits your front brain for less than 5 minutes. Since it is temporary, you don’t need to worry about it.
Brain Freeze Symptoms
You won’t usually feel this ice cream headache until you eat or drink something cold. If you do, here are some of its symptoms:
- Sharp pain in your front head
- You may feel something stabbing your forehead
Read Also: All About Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Important Things You Should Know
Who Can Get a Brain Freeze?
It can happen to anyone, but children are more susceptible to this condition. This is because they eat anything very fast, like ice cream or ice pop. Some studies also claim that individuals who have migraine headaches also get brain freeze frequently. Research says that around 40% of people have a chance to get a brain freeze.
What Happens During Brain Freeze?
There are many theories about brain freeze. However, the most prominent one involves the connection of complex nerves in your brain, the trigeminal nerve. When you eat something cold, your brain triggers this nerve which is responsible for monitoring the sensations and pain in your face. Here, a phenomenon named ‘referred pain’ occurs. It causes the effects in your temples and forehead rather than your mouth.
How to Cure and Prevent Brain Freeze?
The cause of brain freeze is very simple and so is treatment or cure. If you feel the symptoms, you can do the following things:
- Eat cold things slowly like ice cream & desserts.
- You can avoid consuming freezing foods and beverages.
- The time you feel, touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth. It helps transfer heat from the tongue and prevents this.
Ice cream headaches disappear within minutes, and you don’t need to see a doctor if they occur until they become frequent.
Summing Up
Who doesn’t enjoy ice creams, cold drinks, and ice pops? We bet most of you do! But these may give you such a headache. However, there is no point of concern until you experience it frequently. This is because it may have an underlying connection with migraine.
