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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
An editorial was published in the British Medical Journal on ice cream headache; it referenced several articles on the effect of rapid consumption of cold foods or beverages. It has been studied as an example of referred pain, an unpleasant sensation localized to an area separate from the site of the painful stimulation.
The effect occurs when something very cold, such as ice cream, touches the top palate in the mouth. The blood vessels constrict due to the cold. This makes the nerves send a signal to the brain to open blood vessels. But this rapid opening of the blood vessels makes fluid back up in the tissues that won't drain for thirty seconds to a minute. This causes a slight swelling in the forehead that causes pain.
It has been estimated that one in three people experience an ice-cream headache from consumption of ice cream. Some studies suggest that it is more common in people who experience migraines; other studies have shown the opposite.
"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
- ^ http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/314/7091/1364 Ice cream headache - Hulihan 314 (7091): 1364 - BMJ
- ^ Scientific American Mind, 1555-2284, 2008, Vol. 19, Issue 1. "Brain Freeze." Andrews, Mark A., Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.