Science World Blog Cold Case — In Search of a Brain Freeze Mechanism
Cold Case — In Search of a Brain Freeze Mechanism
Last Updated (Monday, 14 July 2008 15:19) Written by Raymond Nakamura
I was watching a movie the other day in which one of the characters gets an ice cream headache, also known as "Brain Freeze" or sometimes, sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.
I haven't had one in a while and it got me wondering what goes on there. Most people I've spoken to have had it happen, but it doesn't happen all the time. Before my daughter was two, I laughed my guts out watching her react to the effects of ice cream. For the sake of this post, I tried to press some ice cream on my soft palate, but I didn't get the head pain I was hoping for. I was surprised to find how unclear the mechanism appears to be. This is my take on the three explanations I've come across.
Crossed Wires Hypothesis
A different kind of nervous breakdown.
The nerve that is allegedly involved is the sphenopalatine. The ganglion is a where a bunch of nerve endings come together. This is also connected to the trigeminal bundle of nerves. This scenario is also known as "referred pain." I'm not a medical doctor, but the effect of consuming cold doesn't seem to qualify for the kind of problem neuralgia implies.
Packing Heat Hypothesis
Nerves tell the blood vessels to react inappropriately.
I don't really like this explanation either. You'd think that we'd have other signals about brain temperature to balance out this kind of reaction. Besides, nerves seem to act quickly, whereas the brain freeze does seem to have a bit of delayed onset.
Balloon Animal hypothesis
Temperature affects the blood vessels directly.
This one makes the most sense to me. It reminds me of when a clown squeezes one part of the skinny balloon and another part swells up. It seems that it makes sense that the expansion would take a bit of time to be transferred along the blood vessels. It would also explain the increased likelihood of brain freeze for a fast consumption rather than a slow consumption because of the sudden reaction required.
Or maybe it's something else. This kind of thing doesn't seem to attract big research money. Now that our comments function is working, maybe you could let me know if you've come up with any experimental tests for these hypotheses. Just don't drink cold drinks and drive.
