You’re just about halfway through that incredible gelato. The creamy richness and flavor isn’t like anything you’ve had in a very long time! The place you bought this cone from likes to get creative with their combinations, and this one is working. Today is a very good day!
Suddenly, none of this matters. What matters is the stabbing pain at the back of your right eye.
This is brain freeze.
When I was growing up, we called this an ice cream headache. The most common way to get brain freeze as a kid was definitely by way of eating ice cream, so my memory certainly checks out.
I was a little bit shocked to learn that not everyone gets brain freeze. Research indicates that something like 40% of people are susceptible to this type of cold stimulus headache.
Take a moment with me to run your tongue along the roof of your mouth, just for a sec. Feel how there’s that part near the front of your mouth where the material up there is hard, and then as you go back, there’s a distinctly less rigid section?
This is your palate, and the front part is called (appropriately) the hard palate. If you eat something very cold, the blood vessels in this bony region contract in response. It seems like this rapid contraction of blood vessels, accompanied by much slower blood flow in the region, lead to alarm bells in your brain, in the form a stabbing pain.
I say “seems like”, because the jury is still out on the research, but the contracting vessels seems like the best (and most widely accepted) explanation.
Brain freeze really, really sucks. It has to be one of the worst pains I’ve ever experienced, maybe like a 9 out of 10, but I always know it’s very temporary. I’ve never had a migraine, but I understand that they’re just awful, and I also understand that brain freeze is a lot more painful.
The thing is, the pain is extremely fleeting. It might be as short as ten seconds, or it might last as long as thirty seconds or so… but it’s pretty rare for brain freeze to last any longer, and every time I’ve had it, I’ve always thought that the trade-off was well worth it.
So, if you have this awful, stabbing pain while you’re eating something cold, you can just wait a few seconds. It’ll pass! However, these few seconds of intense pain can feel like an eon. If you need to make it pass a little faster, there are actually a couple things you can do.
Do you have a cup of coffee or another warm beverage close by? Try drinking or eating something warm so that you can warm the temperature up there in your hard palate. Those blood vessels will open up a bit sooner, and blood will once again flow properly. If you don’t have something warm handy, you can press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. While this might not work as quickly as a warm beverage, it might just save your life one day.
Just kidding! Brain freeze isn’t going to kill you… but it might be worth eating that cold food just a little bit slower. If you can have your ice cream and eat it (without stabbing pain), that seems like a win/win to me!
Important research! Do you ever get brain freeze? I’m a bit dubious of the claim that most folks don’t ever get it, but maybe that’s just projection bias at work.
If you’ve never gotten one, I really, really want to hear from you! For those that have suffered through many moments of brain freeze, how do you typically deal with it? Do you just wait, or do you try one of these little tricks?
I've gotten brain freeze plenty of times before. For me, the trigger is usually drinking an ice cold beverage too fast, especially through a straw.
But I wouldn't rate it nearly as high as you - perhaps a 7. I don't get major migraines, but I've had bad headaches before, and I'll take a fleeting brain freeze over a numb, prolonged headache any day.
On a tangential note, I had my first kidney stone experience last year, and THAT, by far, is the most excruciating pain I'd ever experienced. There was a moment where I genuinely thought I was dying. It's brutal.
I love your first paragraph, Andrew! So well thought-out and fun....I woulda settled for "hey, how 'bout that brain freeze, huh?" Of course, now I'm hungry for some frozen custard (at 9 in the morning)! Brain freeze be danged! I wonder if there's anyone walking around with the painful name, Brian Freeze (or, more likely, Friese)?
Ever done anything on the radical change in meaning of an entire phrase brought about by the change of just one letter? When sub-teaching at the turn of the century (this one), I passed by a kindergarten room with a large poster plastered on its door: "Enter this room to explore!" For some reason, I noticed how radically different the entire meaning of those 5 words become if you just replace the "r" in explore with a "d"!😱