What causes brain freeze?

 

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Q: What exactly causes brain freeze? And here’s a better question — how do I prevent it from happening in the first place?
A: Ahhh, the dreaded brain freeze. I’ve experienced too many of those myself, unfortunately. The bad thing about ice cream headaches is that they hurt — a lot. The good thing about ice cream headaches is that they are usually over in a matter of seconds, or at most a couple minutes.
For me, they always seem to come on slowly, with the pain starting at a 3 and working its way up to an 8 or 9 almost instantaneously. (You can tell I’ve been questioned about my level of pain in the ER a time of two.) But they usually subside as quickly as they come, and thank God for that.
And ice cream headaches don’t come only from ice cream — they can come from eating any really
So what to do? Well if your ice cream headache has already started, chances are it’ll be over quickly. To speed things up a bit, you can touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and hold it there, warming up your palate and calming down the brain’s reaction.
To keep yourself from getting the freeze in the first place, try eating cold foods slower than usual and keep that ice cream away from the roof of your mouth if you can. Seem impossible? It’s not: I tried it to research its efficacy for this article, and not only is it possible; it works. (That’s right, I gave myself a brain freeze for this article. That’s how dedicated I am. As dedicated as Matt Damon gaining 40 pounds for a role.)
So have no fear. You can still enjoy your favorite ice cream sans the splitting headache. Just be sure to save some for me.