What Is Brain Freeze?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsBrain Freeze SymptomsCausesDiagnosisTreatmentWhen to Contact a Healthcare Provider

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Brain Freeze Symptoms

Causes

Diagnosis

Treatment

When to Contact a Healthcare Provider

Brain freeze (sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia) is an excruciating head pain when eating something cold. It is also called “ice cream headache” because it correlates with extremely cold foods, like frozen treats. Medically speaking, brain freeze is classified as a cold-stimulus headache.

Brain freeze affects thevascularandnervous systems. Healthcare providers believe that when something extremely cold hits the roof of your mouth, it drops the temperature dramatically, causing the blood vessels to constrict. They then reopen quickly, triggering a pain signal in the brain.

This article explains brain freeze symptoms, causes, diagnosis, prevention, and how to cope.

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Two kids eating ice cream, one holds their head

Brain freeze occurs when you eat something cold. Therefore, you may notice symptoms while eating ice cream, a slushy, a popsicle, or an iced drink. Symptoms include:

Interestingly, brain freeze can also occur if you are exposed to very low environmental temperatures.For example, when you inhale cold air or dive into cold water, you may also experience a cold-stimulus headache.

Is Eating Ice Bad for You?

While brain freeze seems like a universal experience, not everyone experiences this type of headache. A study of 618 people found that 51% of participants experienced brain freeze.

Frigid temperatures in the mouth or environment cause brain freeze. Examples of how brain freeze may occur include:

In addition, people who experiencemigrainesseem to be more predisposed to brain freeze. An older study on adolescents found that 55.2% of those with a history of migraines experienced brain freeze compared to 39.6% of those without a history of migraines.

You won’t require a formal diagnosis for brain freeze most of the time. That’s because the cause and effect are often so obvious and the symptoms short-lived.

However, the International Headache Society (IHS) has diagnostic criteria for cold-stimulus headaches. They include:

After eating something very cold, sudden, intense headache pain is often a brain freeze.

The best thing to do is stop eating the offending food that is causing the brain freeze. Thankfully, brain freeze is short-lived, so often, once you remove the culprit, it goes away on its own. In addition, try the following:

You may be tempted to pop an Advil (ibuprofen) or Tylenol (acetaminophen). However, remember that doing so is often futile since the brain freeze will likely be over before the pain reliever kicks in.

A brain freeze is usually easy to spot because of its direct correlation to eating cold foods. However, you shouldn’t blow off every sudden, intense headache, as these are sometimes warning signs of a medical emergency, likestroke,brain infection, ortumor.

Warning signs that warrant medical attention include:

When Should You Worry About a Headache?

Summary

Brain freeze is a sudden headache in your forehead and temples after eating something cold, like ice cream. Known medically as cold-stimulus headache, it happens because extreme temperature change on your palate causes your blood vessels to constrict and reopen rapidly. This vascular change sends a pain signal to the brain, resulting in a headache.

A Word From Verywell

If you experience sudden severe pain in your forehead while eating something cold, chances are you have a brain freeze. Fortunately, brain freeze is short-lived, often resolving when you stop eating. Therefore, no treatment is usually necessary.

However, keep in mind that not all sudden, severe headaches are benign. Sometimes they can indicate something serious like a stroke or a tumor. If your headache is not associated with something cold or it doesn’t resolve on its own quickly, contact a healthcare provider.

5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Headache classification committee of the international headache society (Ihs) the international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition.Cephalalgia. 2018;38(1):1-211. doi:10.1177/0333102417738202Johns Hopkins Medicine.How to ease brain freeze.Kraya T, Schulz-Ehlbeck M, Burow P, Watzke S, Zierz S.Prevalence and characteristics of headache attributed to ingestion or inhalation of a cold stimulus (Hics): a cross-sectional study.Cephalalgia. 2020;40(3):299-306. doi:10.1177/0333102419884938Fuh JL, Wang SJ, Lu SR, Juang KD.Ice-cream headache - a large survey of 8359 adolescents.Cephalalgia. 2003;23(10):977-981. doi:10.1046/j.1468-2982.2003.00620.xPhu Do T, Remmers A, Schytz HW, et al.Red and orange flags for secondary headaches in clinical practice: SNNOOP10 list.Neurology.2019;92(3):134-144. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000006697

5 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Headache classification committee of the international headache society (Ihs) the international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition.Cephalalgia. 2018;38(1):1-211. doi:10.1177/0333102417738202Johns Hopkins Medicine.How to ease brain freeze.Kraya T, Schulz-Ehlbeck M, Burow P, Watzke S, Zierz S.Prevalence and characteristics of headache attributed to ingestion or inhalation of a cold stimulus (Hics): a cross-sectional study.Cephalalgia. 2020;40(3):299-306. doi:10.1177/0333102419884938Fuh JL, Wang SJ, Lu SR, Juang KD.Ice-cream headache - a large survey of 8359 adolescents.Cephalalgia. 2003;23(10):977-981. doi:10.1046/j.1468-2982.2003.00620.xPhu Do T, Remmers A, Schytz HW, et al.Red and orange flags for secondary headaches in clinical practice: SNNOOP10 list.Neurology.2019;92(3):134-144. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000006697

Headache classification committee of the international headache society (Ihs) the international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition.Cephalalgia. 2018;38(1):1-211. doi:10.1177/0333102417738202Johns Hopkins Medicine.How to ease brain freeze.Kraya T, Schulz-Ehlbeck M, Burow P, Watzke S, Zierz S.Prevalence and characteristics of headache attributed to ingestion or inhalation of a cold stimulus (Hics): a cross-sectional study.Cephalalgia. 2020;40(3):299-306. doi:10.1177/0333102419884938Fuh JL, Wang SJ, Lu SR, Juang KD.Ice-cream headache - a large survey of 8359 adolescents.Cephalalgia. 2003;23(10):977-981. doi:10.1046/j.1468-2982.2003.00620.xPhu Do T, Remmers A, Schytz HW, et al.Red and orange flags for secondary headaches in clinical practice: SNNOOP10 list.Neurology.2019;92(3):134-144. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000006697

Johns Hopkins Medicine.How to ease brain freeze.

Kraya T, Schulz-Ehlbeck M, Burow P, Watzke S, Zierz S.Prevalence and characteristics of headache attributed to ingestion or inhalation of a cold stimulus (Hics): a cross-sectional study.Cephalalgia. 2020;40(3):299-306. doi:10.1177/0333102419884938

Fuh JL, Wang SJ, Lu SR, Juang KD.Ice-cream headache - a large survey of 8359 adolescents.Cephalalgia. 2003;23(10):977-981. doi:10.1046/j.1468-2982.2003.00620.x

Phu Do T, Remmers A, Schytz HW, et al.Red and orange flags for secondary headaches in clinical practice: SNNOOP10 list.Neurology.2019;92(3):134-144. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000006697

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