When a person experiences a brain freeze, the brain only reacts to the sensation of cold.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — After eating or drinking something cold, sometimes there is pain and an unpleasant stabbing sensation in the head. That condition is called brain freeze, the sensation of which disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Some people experience this sensation when exposed to cold air, with a stabbing pain from the front or side of the head. Known by scientific name sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, until now experts are still hesitant to define the cause.
According to one theory, cold substances stimulate the sphenopalatine ganglion, a group of nerves at the back of the roof of the mouth. Another theory says brain freeze caused by the blood vessels in the roof of the mouth and sinuses narrowing rapidly due to a drop in temperature in the mouth.
A small-scale study published in 2012 in The FASEB Journal reviewed the condition of 13 volunteers while experiencing brain freeze. Each participant’s body was connected to a non-invasive device that analyzes blood flow in the arteries of the brain.
They then sipped the ice water through a straw that was in contact with the roof of their mouth until they felt the familiar freezing sensation. Their blood flow, blood pressure, and heart rate were analyzed before, during, and after the sensation.
The researchers found that drinking ice water increased blood flow in some of the brain’s blood vessels. The study shows that when a person experiences brain freeze, the brain only reacts to the sensation of cold.
The brain can’t actually feel pain because it doesn’t have nociceptors (nerve fibers in the skin, muscles, joints, and some organs that send pain signals). However, there is a layer of protective tissue between the brain and the skull called the dura and pia that does contain nociceptors.
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