Cause of Brain Freeze Revealed

[cynatnite]

The researchers brought on brain freeze in the lab by having 13 healthy volunteers sip ice water through a straw right up against the roof of their mouth. The volunteers raised their hands when they felt the familiar brain freeze come on, and raised them again once it disappeared.

The researchers monitored the blood flow through their brains using an ultrasoundlike process on the skull. They saw that increased blood flow to the brain through a blood vessel called the anterior cerebral artery, which is located in the middle of the brain behind the eyes. This increase in flow and resulting increase in size in this artery brought on the pain associated with brain freeze. [Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind]

When the artery constricts, reining in the response to this increased flow, the pain disappears. The dilation, then quick constriction, of this blood vessel may be a type of self-defense for the brain, the researchers suggested.

"The brain is one of the relatively important organs in the body, and it needs to be working all the time," study researcher Jorge Serrador, of Harvard Medical School, said in a statement. "It's fairly sensitive to temperature, so vasodilation [the widening of the blood vessels] might be moving warm blood inside tissue to make sure the brain stays warm."

http://news.yahoo.com/cause-brain-freeze-revealed-210201727.html

[ZombieHorde]

1. I have never had brain freeze, but I hear it is painful. nt

[cynatnite]

2. It is for my husband...

For me, I just get a cold feeling at the top of my mouth. That's it.

[MuseRider]

3. Really? You are lucky.

I always knew what caused it, Ice Cream!!!

[cindyperry2010]

4. oh i know yummy but

i always get a sharp pain in my eye when i get it but i don't mind.

[ZombieHorde]

5. I don't know why, but I don't get it. I did develope a really nasty lactose intolorance this year

though, so ice-cream is off my menu.

[cindyperry2010]

16. gosh i am sorry

[uponit7771]

20. It's one of the most painful feelings I've every felt in my life then they aftermath is

like heavan but yeah...you can't do anything while brain is frozen

[postulater]

6. Duh. Seems obvious by looking at any anatomy text.

Sounds like somebody was being pressured to publish something quick.

[Tikki]

8. I have brain freeze so severe that it has nearly blinded me and I have felt...

the pain going down into my upper back.
For years I have only drank through a straw sip, sip...but no where near the roof of
my mouth. I can't eat hard ice cream, cold milk, slurpees or slushy margaritas.

I can't eat with a long tine fork. I am very afraid I will touch the roof
of my mouth.

Thanks for the article...Now I know a bit more of what's going on.



Tikki

[Lex]

9. I've always suspected it was the body's self-defense

in trying to regulate its temperature.

[Kalidurga]

10. Darn wrong kinda brain freeze...

interesting though. I thought it was the kind where you know a name or something and can't quite spit it out. I wanna know what causes that.

[kestrel91316]

12. That's known as a senior moment. Ask me about them, lol.

[Fumesucker]

17. Ask you about what?

[progressoid]

11. relatively important organs in the body...

Just "relatively"?

[eppur_se_muova]

15. “My brain? It´s my second favourite organ.”

Woody Allen in "Sleeper"

[iverglas]

21. thank you!

I was trying to remember the name of that danged movie on Saturday and for the life of me, I couldn't. I even seem to have missed it when I skimmed through the list of his movies in my movie book.

(Something we were watching, where one of the questions for potential dates was "what is your favourite Woody Allen movie".)

I don't so much any more, but got ice cream headaches every time when I was a kid. The only one among the two adults and three kids in the household who was affected. And it really is something that has been a scientific curiosity for ages.

[madamesilverspurs]

13. Worst case I ever had

happened one September years ago during a visit to some friends in New England. They had a backyard pool and after a few beers they invited everyone to go skinny-dipping. Silly me, I assumed the pool was heated. It wasn't.

Ow.


-

[murielm99]

14. We had a dog who loved ice cream.

We would give her a little bit, if it was soft. One day, I scooped some ice cream and it fell on the floor. The dog swallowed it in one gulp. My kids asked me if dogs got ice cream headaches. I told them I did not know.

Dogs are mammals. I bet they do get brain freeze.

[IDemo]

18. I was expecting something entirely different -

[GeorgeGist]

19. Deep thoughts ...

The brain is one of the relatively important organs in the body, and it needs to be working all the time,"

[guitar man]

22. Ben and Jerry claim they are being scapegoated

[MichaelMcGuire]

23. Brain freeze = Brain fart

[undergroundpanther]

24. you can stop brainfreeze

instantly, Just have a cup of very warm water,when your brain begins to freeze take a swallow of the water hold it against your soft palette.Repeat if needed.It'll stop brain freeze instantly.I figured this out when I was a kid freezin my brain with slurpees.