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Ice-cream headache, also known as brain freeze, cold headache, shakeache, frigid face, freezie, frozen brain syndrome, cold-stimulus headache, or its given scientific name sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (meaning "nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion"), is a form of brief cranial pain or headache commonly associated with consumption (particularly quick consumption) of cold beverages or foods such as ice cream.
Cause and frequency
"Ice cream headaches" result from quickly eating or drinking very cold substances. It is the direct result of the rapid cooling and rewarming of the blood vessels in the palate, or the roof of the mouth. A similar but painless blood vessel response causes the face to appear "flushed" after being outside on a cold day. In both instances, the cold temperature causes blood vessels to constrict and then experience extreme rebound dilation as they warm up again.
In the palate, this dilation is sensed by nearby pain receptors, which then send signals back to the brain via the trigeminal nerve, one of the major nerves of the facial area. This nerve also senses facial pain, so as the signals are conducted the brain interprets the pain as coming from the forehead — the same "referred pain" phenomenon seen in heart attacks. Brain-freeze pain may last from a few seconds to a few minutes. Research suggests that the same vascular mechanism and nerve implicated in "brain freeze" cause the aura (sensory disturbance) and pulsatile (throbbing pain) phases of migraines.
As "ice cream headaches" require a warm ambient environmental temperature to occur, it is impossible to suffer one in cold weather.
The phenomena is common enough to have been the subject of research conducted by the "British Medical Journal" and "Scientific American".
References
- ^ Scientific American Mind, 1555-2284, 2008, Vol. 19, Issue 1. "Brain Freeze." Andrews, Mark A., Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.
- ^ http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/314/7091/1364 Ice cream headache - Hulihan 314 (7091): 1364 - BMJ