What causes brain freeze? Study reveals new clues

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(CBS News) We've all been there before: On a hot day, you reach for an ice cold drink or a big scoop of ice cream - and are shortly met with excruciating pain.

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We're talking the dreaded "brain freeze," - often dubbed an "ice cream headache" - and a new study claims to have finally unlocked clues as to what causes this chilly sensation. The researchers behind the study say their findings may lead to better treatments for other headache sufferers, such as people with migraines or those with traumatic brain injuries.

Almost everyone has felt brain freeze at some point in their lives, according to the study and the effect is triggered by an ice-cold sip of liquid or a slurp of an ice cream or some other chilly product hitting the mouth's upper palate. But scientists have long been unable to explain the phenomenon - until now.

For the study, presented this week at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting in San Diego, researchers induced brain freeze in 13 healthy adults by having them sip ice cold water with a straw on their upper palate. The researchers monitored participants' blood flow in their brains with a "transcranial Doppler test," and found the sudden headache seems to be triggered by an abrupt increase in blood flow on the brain's anterior cerebral artery. The pain disappears when that artery constricts, an effect researchers reproduced by having participants drink warm water.

According to the researchers, since migraine sufferers are more likely to experience brain freeze than people who don't experience the icy headache often, brain freeze may share traits with other types of headaches, including those brought on by the trauma of blast-related combat injuries in soldiers or migraines. One possible link between brain freeze and other headaches is local changes in brain blood flow. If further research confirms all these types of headaches are caused by blood flow changes, new drugs that block widening of the blood vessels - called vasodilation - could improve treatment for sufferers.

Why does this increase in blood flow occur? The researchers think the brain is adapting to the "freeze" through a self-defense mechanism.

"The brain is one of the relatively important organs in the body, and it needs to be working all the time," study co-author Dr. Jorge Serrador, a cardiovascular electronics researcher at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a written statement. "It's fairly sensitive to temperature, so vasodilation might be moving warm blood inside tissue to make sure the brain stays warm." He adds the sudden influx of blood could raise pressure and cause pain.. The blood vessel constriction that follows may be a way to bring pressure down in the brain before it reaches dangerous levels.

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[galaxysurfer1]

I've heard that quite a lot of people in the North West of England (myself included) don't get this at all.
I've tried numerous times to actually bring about a brain freeze 'attack', but have been unsuccessful every time, no matter what I try or how I try it.

[gntlspirit50]

I am not sure when a started with small headaches, but about 1980 something I noticed only one side of my head these headaches would happen. At first for a long time aspirin would work, then I went for Excedrin because I cannot take IB type meds. Then they were not touching the headaches, so my Sister suggested Excedrin Migraines and I took those and they helped some, but one day the headache got so bad it landed me in the hospital with a BP of 161/110 and the Docs had the nerve to ask, which came first, the headache or the BP?.. OK how many know that answer?... When headaches start throwing you in the hospitals it is time to see what is causing them and that is when they told me I may have migraines.. and they said MAY and they still did not know. They told me just to go home and take pain meds and BP meds and lose weight and calm my nerves because it was probably that. Well I still had the headaches and the high BP, but I just kept myself drugged up and I eventually moved.
Now I am in a new area and thought okay maybe the headaches will subsides, but no, they actually got worse. These doctors though did diagnose Migraines and told me to still keep on the pain meds but wanted me to take nerve pills, because they felt I was stressed out. why being a woman I was being stressed or maybe I felt like that. So anyway the headache again threw me in the Hospital with a BP 190/125 and a severe enough headache I thought my head was going to explode and all they did was drug me up and do test and send me home and say all was normal.
Now I am in California and the Headaches are worse... I now have facial SEIZURES, yes Siezures withe them,,, so I have now gone to small headaches to full blown shoot me and get it over with headaches/seizure migraines... so if they want to try something as silly and stupid as a brain freeze then go for it, which for one I have had when I was little. See when I work now most do not understand how or why I get these Migraines and some ask how or why do I get them and it is hard to explain. I just look at them and say if I knew I would be rich.
So if anyone out there can help us sufferer, please we can use the help. I am tired of the facial seizures and trying to explain why I have these darn things to people at work or anywhere. At least my family do not ask questions, they understand.

[rockmann8]

Not sure why this phenomenon is called "brain freeze". I have lived with moderate and severe migraine headaches for many years. Some migraines are extremely painful, usually focusing on one side of the head and/or behind one eye. In those instances I'm very sensitive to bright light, or any type of light and must go into a dark quiet room and cannot move until the pain and throbbing subsides. Smell sensitivity is also very enhanced and the exhaust fumes from a car travelling hundreds of yards ahead on a freeway become very nauseating. I'm also very susceptible to the so called "brain freeze" effect, although I'm not sure that is linked to migraines or headaches. The sudden extreme pain from a cold beverage or ice or some other cold food seems to be limited to my entire upper mouth and palette and jaw areas. The pain is excruciating and immobilizing, there is nothing else possible but to try to endure the pain and try to get some kind of warm fluid onto the upper palette quickly to try to dull the pain. Of course since it is probably hot outside which is why I am consuming very cold drink or food, there is probably not any hot liquid or food around. I don't consider this freeze effect to be a headache, since it seems to be so localized in the upper roof of my mouth and jaws, but technically it is in the head area of my body. I would agree that it is probably caused by some type of very sudden constriction or dilation of the blood vessels in order not to carry the extreme cold away from my upper mouth area to the nearest organ, which is the brain. This may be a mechanism to protect our brains from extreme cold exposure. The sudden high level of pain may be a warning from our brains saying it cannot be exposed to such low temperatures or it will shut down. Migraines are definitely caused partly by constriction of blood vessels in the outer layers of flesh surrounding the bone of the skull,according to my personal experiences. Massaging the affected areas seems to alleviate the pain of that type of migraine. The extreme pain of a "brain freeze" would be impossible to endure for more than a few minutes, at least in my case, because the pain is so intense it completely overshadows everything else, but thankfully subsides fairly quickly, in a minute or so. If you have never had a migraine nor a brain freeze consider yourself very fortunate, it is a type of pain you don't want to know about. It should definitely not be played at by children or anyone else. For those who are susceptible to these types of pain more research would be a good thing, to learn what really causes them and how they can be avoided or made less severe, or if they are really related somehow. There are still a lot of things we don't know about our human bodies, and hopefully research into these phenomenon will lead to a better understanding of pain and it's mechanisms in relation to our brains and how they process and handle pain, and perhaps lead to anti-pain solutions that do not require overly strong or addictive drugs nor medications to counteract them. That may lead to anti-pain solutions that would be useful in counteracting extreme pain and related stress from traumatic injuries caused in auto accidents or gunshots or military combat injuries or fatal diseases such as cancers that can be very debilitating. Controlling levels of pain and reducing the related stress on our bodies and minds is something medical science should continue researching, to lessen the chances that people will ever have to endure extreme pain in their lifetimes, and therefore have an enhanced qualify of life and less fear that they may have to endure severe pain without a solution being readily available. Extreme pain causes not only pain to those experiencing it, but also to those who care for those people and endure emotional pain and suffering as well. The more we can learn and understand about controlling and alleviating pain the better for all of us.

[tweesdad]

Well I am one of those who gets "brain freeze" very easily - I'd make a good experimental subject, except that I find the pain excruciating for about 2 minutes. Slurpees and Icees are the worst, I cannot enjoy them at all, and I certainly could not drive while sipping a soda+ice (you know the 80% ice/20% soda mix that many in the US seem to prefer).

So I am glad that researchers are looking at this phenomenon and I hope it leads to greater insight into how some people's brains respond to this very unnatural stimulus. Why some and not others? Perhaps those who don't suffer from it may have had ancestors who ate mouthfuls of snow!

[erasmus111]

I read something once that said if when you get that brain freeze, you should put your tongue on the roof of your mouth. I guess it's supposed to warm it up.

[markag55]

"The brain is one of the relatively important organs in the body, and it needs to be working all the time." Duh? So the brain is only a "relatively" important organ? "Relative" to what?

[KnowerseekerReturns]

What a waste of tax money. "Brain freeze" occurs because you're quickly lowering the temperature in your brain by eating something very cold (having it in your mouth), and the inner body doesn't handle quick temperature changes well, including something as delicate and complicated as the brain. There, that didn't cost taxpayers a dime!

[hamiltongrad]

Transcranial Doppler can only show velocity, and can not show "flow" which is a volume.

The study is flawed.

[Forty-Four]

Also, it is possible that they got their facts mixed up...not hard for people who aren't professionals in that field. My brother is in a robotics club. The lady from the newspaper wrote that it used a high-tech sensor to find and shoot the basketball, when in fact all that it had was a wireless camera connected to a laptop

[hamiltongrad]

Transcranial Doppler is not able to define blood flow (a volume). IT can only show velocity. If the velocity goes up, it means that the artery is narrowing, or there is increased cardiac output at that time, that's all. This is a flawed study.

The researches may have been drinking something too cold, themselves.

[Forty-Four]

It mentions the narrowing of the vessels

[jazzyg410]

I get a brain freeze from wasabi when I'm eating sushi?That's not cold?

[KansasCity-2012]

SCUBA Divemasters are trained to know that the effects of exposure to cold water on the face and the brachycardia response which slows the heartbeat. In hypothermia - where swimmers are exposed enough to colder water sufficient to reduce their body temperature, blood flow in redirected away from the arms and legs to keep the abdomen or torso warm enough to survive. The vasodilation or blood vessel reaction, which widens walls of blood vessels to permit easier blood flow, is a condition that humans lose over time - especially those who gain weight, and this condition seems to align with elevated blood pressure with advancing age.

Too much cold drink seems to raise blood pressure, over-work the bile ducts, pancreas, and gall bladder. Much worse, too much cold exposure to the soft upper pallet seems to trigger dizziness, impair sense of balance, retard digestion and aggravate pelvic floor dysfunction.

Brain Freeze does have relationships to