‘Brain freeze’ starts in the soft palate

Sorry if we didn’t go into enough detail ... sometimes space limitations make it difficult to get everything in. And speaking of space, the response cited our source as Assistant Professor Joseph Hulihan of Temple University’s neurology department but the source of his article was edited out. His article appeared in the British Medical Journal, and you can find it at bmj.com on the Web.

It would take quite a bit of very cold stuff in your stomach to cool the brain. According to Hulihan’s survey of related scientific studies, scientists believe it’s actually nerves in the soft palate (the back of the roof of your mouth) that generate "ice cream headaches."

Dr. Brett Kissela, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Cincinnati and director of that school’s Neurology Residency Program, reports that too much cold stimulus of the soft palate area can activate the nerves there (the sphenopalantine ganglion, which also serve the sinuses and tear ducts and are linked to migraines). The nerves sensing cold there cause the blood vessels in your brain to become larger, which creates a headache.

Kissela says "you can make the headache go away by warming the roof of your mouth back up, thereby constricting (narrowing) the blood vessels. The easiest thing to do is to press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. You can also try drinking warm water."

By the time you do this, likely your body has already warmed up the area with normal blood flow, but if it’s especially intense perhaps that tip is helpful. But if you eat your ice cream or Slurpee more slowly or keep it away from your soft palate, it shouldn’t be a problem.

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