An ice-cream headache, also known as brain freeze, cold-stimulus headache, or its given scientific name sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (meaning "nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion"), is a form of brief cranial pain or headache commonly associated with consumption (particularly quick consumption) of cold beverages or foods such as ice cream and ice pops. It is caused by having something cold touch the roof of the mouth (palate), and is believed to result from a nerve response causing rapid constriction and swelling of blood vessels or a "referring" of pain from the roof of the mouth to the head. The rate of intake for cold foods has been studied as a contributing factor.
Read more about Ice-cream Headache: Cause and Frequency, Anterior Cerebral Artery Theory, Relief, Research, Classification
Famous quotes containing the words ice-cream and/or headache:
“Each body is in its bunker. The surgeon applies his gum.
Each body is fitted quickly into its ice-cream pack
and then stitched up again for the long voyage
back.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“It is immoral to get drunk because the headache comes after the drinking, but if the headache came first and the drunkenness afterwards, it would be moral to get drunk.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)