From the Research
A brain freeze, also known as cold stimulus headache (CSH) or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, is caused by rapid cooling of the roof of your mouth and back of your throat when consuming cold foods or beverages. When these cold substances touch the warm tissues in your palate, blood vessels in that area rapidly constrict and then dilate in response to the temperature change, as supported by a study published in 2019 1. This sudden change in blood vessel size triggers pain receptors and sends signals through the trigeminal nerve (the main sensory nerve of the face) to your brain, which interprets these signals as pain. The pain is typically felt in the forehead or temples because the same nerve that supplies sensation to the roof of your mouth also supplies areas of your forehead. Some key characteristics of cold stimulus headache include:
- A high prevalence, with approximately 51.3% of people experiencing it, as reported in a 2020 study 2
- A short duration, typically less than 30 seconds, as found in the same 2020 study 2
- Pain that is often described as stabbing or pressing, as noted in a 2017 study 3
- Possible accompanying symptoms such as lacrimation, as mentioned in the 2017 study 3 To relieve a brain freeze quickly, press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to warm the area, or sip warm water to counteract the cold temperature. Prevention is simple:
- Eat or drink cold items slowly
- Keep them away from the roof of your mouth when possible
- Take small amounts at a time to allow your mouth to adjust to the temperature. It's also worth noting that some people may be more prone to brain freezes due to underlying conditions such as migraine or tension-type headache, as suggested by a 2012 study 4. However, the exact relationship between these conditions and brain freezes is still not fully understood and requires further research.