“Mmm! This smoothie is so good, so refreshing, so … so cold! Aah!” If it tastes so good one minute, how can it feel like someone is prying my cranium apart? This horribly agonizing experience is commonly referred to as a brain freeze, or frozen brain syndrome. Nutritionists say at least a third of the planet fall prey to the brain freeze, usually as they try to scarf down a frosty snack on a hot day. Only lasting half a minute or so (thank God) is the brain freeze’s mind bending misery, perhaps close in comparison to the malady of a migraine.

What Causes Brain Freeze?

But do we even know how the brain freeze happens? Studies have shown that it can happen as a result of the body is stimulated by intense cold, nerve-ending in the roof of the mouth freeze up, and warm blood rapidly circulates to the brain. Too much coffee colatta or Popsicle consumption in a hurry can make things much worse. Your palate meeting the tasty frozen snack is actually the culprit that put your brain freeze into action.

Is Your Brain Really Frozen?

The hard palate (which is just to say the roof of your mouth) took on the massive amount of super cold slushy when you gulped it in. There’s a cluster of nerves just behind that plate that helps protect your brain from certain temperature changes. The primary nerve in this bundle is known as the sphenopalatine nerve, and it is able to detect and adapt to heat and cold. So, that means if you eat ice cream or any other cold food, then your sphenopalatine nerve will send out shockwaves to warn other nerves in its cluster. Your nerves have basically just told the rest of your brain to get ready for a major freeze.

When you get a brain freeze, your brain doesn’t actually freeze, but your sphenopalatine nerve can’t recognize the difference between extreme cold temperatures, and eating a spoonful of ice cream. It’s actually the shrinking of the blood vessels around the brain in reaction to the cold stimuli that cause you problems. This nerve shrinkage is behind your eyes (e.g. your nasal area) is what gives you the pounding headache that brain freezes are known for. Although, the pain isn’t necessarily caused by your blood vessels shrinking, more than the flow of blood that forces them to open up again.

Why You Feel “Brain Freeze”

In all the hullabaloo of shrinking and reopening blood vessels, your nerves are also causing you some pain. Pain receptors that are positioned closely to your sphenopalatine nerve will sense that the palate has encountered something frozen, but the pain it causes will be sent into an area deeper inside your skull. That’s why you think your brain is freezing instead of the top of your mouth and jaw area.

The fastest way to stop a brain freeze, or shorten it, is to stick your warm tongue to the roof of your mouth - it’ll warm your palate back up again. And once your palate’s all warmed up, your nerve clusters will call off the hounds, and your brain freeze will come to an end. You may also want to consider taking sips of warm water while you eat your frozen treats, and don’t allow them to come in contact with the top of your mouth; this should help you minimize the “brain frozen” feeling that you may have otherwise had to deal with.

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