Asking because I was eating ice cream 13 minutes ago and this happened.
In: Biology
When your body experiences sudden extreme cold, your brain reacts by opening blood vessels to let extra blood into the area for warmth. The quick change in your blood vessels’ size is the pain/discomfort you’re feeling.
When you eat something cold, the blood vessels in the roof of your mouth constrict to conserve heat. As soon as the cold food or drink is gone, the blood vessels quickly dilate, causing a sharp pain that feels like it’s coming from your brain.
iirc it’s because the cold in your mouth makes your brain think you are cold and attempts to raise your body temp by expanding blood vessels, the sudden expansion doesn’t always feel good.
Brain freeze happens because the cold food or drink hits the roof of your mouth, causing the blood vessels to constrict and then quickly expand.
It’s not just from eating something cold; it’s specifically from getting the *roof of your mouth* cold quickly.
There are a lot of important blood vessels and nerves that pass through that region (it’s all close to the face and brain). When you rapidly cool it, the blood vessels and nerves get rapidly squeezed and then expanded again as they warm up. This puts pressure on the blood vessels and nerves, which the body interprets as pain.
>**Before Posting**: Perform a keyword search, you may find good explanations in past threads
https://old.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search?q=brain+freeze&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all
I’ve heard people describe brain freeze, but never actually experienced it. It sounds awful.
I don’t. Not anymore. Been drinking too much slush ice so I’ve gotten immune to brain freeze. My que when to stop hauling it in is when my entire body starts shaking. Typically happens when I drink a liter in less than two minutes
I got brain freeze last night and got lightheaded and fell… Like a head rush when you stand up too fast. Is that common?
There are little gremlins in your head that hit your brain with a hammer because they hate when it gets cold up there.
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