Can you hurt yourself with a 'brain freeze'?
Asked by
ibstubro (
18804
)
January 13th, 2014
You know, that intense pain you get above to roof of your mouth if you drink a really cold beverage too fast.
As bad as it hurts, is there potential there for real harm? It’s hard for me to believe that the human body would give such a strong warning if there wasn’t potential for damage.
(And it you have a fix, cure or way to lessen a brain freeze, you can post that as well.)
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14 Answers
If you are driving a car you can get in an accident. I don’t think that their would be permanent damage unless you kept it up deliberately.
No you won’t hurt yourselves. It’s just that when we drink something very cold it touches the roof of our mouth and sets off a nerve reaction which causes the blood vessels in our brain to swell. When the blood vessels swell, some may get a headache which is usually harmless and lasts less than a minute.
To prevent this just try drinking warm water or may be give yourself breaks between bites to let your mouth warm up.
Well, sure. For example, let’s say you’re driving eating an slurpee, and you get brain freeze and you shut your eyes really tight and hit a tree.
Yeah, I hate it when that happens.
In my case it would probably get the neurons working again.
I counteract brain freezes with french fries.
I have never had a brain freeze. Ever. I don’t know what I do differently.
Actually, the term “brain freeze” gives the wrong idea, since it is believed that it has nothing to do with your brain. It is also believed that it really doesn’t actually change the temperature of/around your brain. Some people call it an ice cream headache. That may fit better!
Two possibilities are thought to cause the “brain freeze”. First, the coldness of whatever you are drinking or eating causes a temperature change in your sinuses and then constricts the vessels in the nasal cavity…..these vessels are near the forehead. It would feel like a migraine. Second, it could simply be the trigeminal nerve that is in your mouth. Too cold could cause a painful nerve reaction in the nerve that controls facial sensation.
According to a sinus surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear infirmary, they will probably never know for certain. Only because the brain freeze doesn’t seem interesting enough to encourage funding for tests!
Hi ibstubro!
Hey there, @Lulaa. I was wondering one day this week what ever became of you!
yes, you can destroy your brocas area
Break your brocas? Do tell.
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