Does your brain really freeze?
While you're enjoying that ice cream cone or milk shake or
popsicle a bit too excitedly, the temperature at the back of
your throat changes very quickly. Two important arteries—the
internal carotid artery, which brings blood into the brain, and the
anterior cerebral artery, which is where brain tissue starts—are
also located there. Now, your brain likes everything to stay
the same. That includes its internal thermostat. So when
those arteries get cold, they dilate and contract. The
brain interprets that sensation as pain, and voila, you
get a nasty headache. This bossy group of nerves and
Brain Freeze have a fancy name, sphenolopalatine
ganglioneuralgia.
So NOPE, you don't really freeze your brain.
Unfreeze your brain
If you begin feeling a brain freeze coming
on, press your tongue to the roof of
your mouth or drink something
warm. The heat will warm up
the sinuses behind your
nose, and then warm
the nerves that caused
the brain freeze.
Avoiding
brain freeze
Just eat or drink a little slower,
and keep the cold food in the front of
your mouth until it warms up a bit.
You might have to sound it out.
After you do, try saying that five times fast.
Or one time fast. Or just once.
sphenopalatine
ganglioneuralgia
Can you say this word?
B
R
A
I
N
F
R
E
E
Z
E
!!
Of f icialKidsMag.com • MARCH 2020 • 39
