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health advisory Hospital Health advisory 2007-11-16 5:19:57

And Why do some people get brainfreeze and others never do?

Answer:

The reaction can be sometimes triggered within a few seconds after a very cold substance consumed comes into contact with the roof of the mouth. The body's response to cold environments is to vasoconstrict the peripheral vasculature (to reduce the diameter of blood vessels). This vasoconstriction is in place to reduce blood flow to the area, and thus minimize heat loss to keep warmth at the body's core. After vasoconstriction, the return to normal status and artery size results in massive dilation (vasodilation) of the arteries that supply the palate (descending palatine arteries).

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I think i heard somewhere it makes the stem of your brain cold as it travels down the back of your throat. This might not be true , though.

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The cold causes the muscles surrounding the optic nerves to contract. This contraction causes pressure, creating the "brainfreeze".

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there are blood vessels very close to the surface in the roof of the mouth and the back of the throat, that lead to the brain, the ice cream chills the blood going to the brain, and constricts them, causing pain. Maybe the ones who don't get brainfreeze swallow fast enough to get past these blood vesels.

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it's a genetic condition related to the sensitivity of the specific hormones in the middle part of your brain next to the brain stem. There are these chemicals in your brain. Some people inherited it from their mother and father. It's actually a recessive trait so not that many people has it.

It feel horrible. Brainfreeze is kind of like a migrane headache except it feels a bit cold if you ever touch someone's head with it. My friend would just go to a very dark room and isolate herself whenever this happens.

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Actually it's not the cold things, but the cold temperature of the ice cream that sets off nerves in the roof of your mouth that causes the blood vessels in your head to widen or dilate until the roof of the mouth warms up and the blood vessels shrink back to normal size.

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