WEBVTT - Why Do We Get Brain Freeze?

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:09.680
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain stuff,

0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:13.360
<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Seger. We get headaches for a lot of reasons.

0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:17.840
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes foods like chocolate, cheese, or cured meat can cause them.

0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.560
<v Speaker 1>Other times it's stress or maybe changes in our sleep habits.

0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:26.320
<v Speaker 1>Headaches are also caused by eye strain, sinus problems, coughing,

0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:30.400
<v Speaker 1>and even sex. And if you're really unlucky, they're a

0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.760
<v Speaker 1>sign of neurological problems. But do you know what causes

0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:38.000
<v Speaker 1>headaches and over one third of the population ice cream?

0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:43.920
<v Speaker 1>Diabolical evil ice cream otherwise known as a brain freeze

0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.600
<v Speaker 1>or a quote cold stimulus headache in more lofty circles.

0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:53.280
<v Speaker 1>The ice cream headache only requires two things. First, something

0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:56.560
<v Speaker 1>cold touching the roof of your mouth, and second, a

0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.920
<v Speaker 1>hot environment like a summer day or a sauna or

0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.400
<v Speaker 1>a yoga class full of sweaty people. That's where we

0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.720
<v Speaker 1>all usually eat ice cream. Right. Brain freeze is caused

0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.480
<v Speaker 1>by both a constriction and dilation of the blood vessels

0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:14.160
<v Speaker 1>in your head. There's a nerve center just above your mouth,

0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.240
<v Speaker 1>and when it gets cold, it signals the anterior cerebral

0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.360
<v Speaker 1>artery to widen, trying to heat your brain with warm blood.

0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.840
<v Speaker 1>Since the skull is a closed structure, the sudden rush

0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.440
<v Speaker 1>of blood could be increasing pressure, which causes the pain

0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:35.280
<v Speaker 1>we feel. It's kind of a horrible stabbing achey feeling,

0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.880
<v Speaker 1>but the warm air around you causes these blood vessels

0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.720
<v Speaker 1>to restrict again, relieving the pain about ten to twenty

0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:47.600
<v Speaker 1>seconds after its onset. This experience is reportedly similar to

0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:52.240
<v Speaker 1>a migraine headache, albeit a very short one. It's possible

0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:55.800
<v Speaker 1>the influx of blood is supposed to protect your brain

0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:00.160
<v Speaker 1>from extreme cold. The pain is usually in the mid

0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.680
<v Speaker 1>frontal area, but it can be unilateral in other parts

0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:06.760
<v Speaker 1>of the brain. But don't worry. Experts say that ice

0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.440
<v Speaker 1>cream isn't going to give you brain damage or anything.

0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.960
<v Speaker 1>In fact, when they're correcting aneurysms, doctors sometimes lower your

0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.440
<v Speaker 1>brain temperature down to sixty four degrees fahrenheit or seventeen

0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.440
<v Speaker 1>point eight degrees celsius. So ice cream ain't no thing,

0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.840
<v Speaker 1>except there's only one cure for brain freeze. Never eat

0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.360
<v Speaker 1>ice cream again. No, I'm just kidding. In one article

0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.600
<v Speaker 1>about these headaches, a researcher actually said ice cream abstinence

0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.040
<v Speaker 1>is not indicated, so keep eating all the ice cream

0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.480
<v Speaker 1>you want, but slow it down a bit there, Hoss.

0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.679
<v Speaker 1>Try to eat in small bites and avoid the roof

0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.840
<v Speaker 1>of your mouth. Also, you may be more likely to

0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.720
<v Speaker 1>get brain freeze if you already get migraines. The science

0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.000
<v Speaker 1>isn't confirmed on that, but since the vascular response of

0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.360
<v Speaker 1>ice cream headaches is similar to the experience of migraine sufferers,

0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:03.560
<v Speaker 1>they may be are vulnerable. Researchers are investigating this connection

0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:14.240
<v Speaker 1>now in hopes of developing even better painkillers. Check out

0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.400
<v Speaker 1>the brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this

0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:33.240
<v Speaker 1>and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.