How to Combat Brain Freeze

At one point or another in a persons' life they will fall victim to brain freeze. A brain freeze is known within the medical field as Spheno Palatine Gangleoneuralgia. We often go to extreme measures when trying to relieve such feeling and will do anything to stop it as quickly as it crept upon us. Here are some tips to keep in mind the next time a brain freeze attack strikes.

Before tackling the how, we need to understand the why. Why do we get brain freezes? They are actually caused by cold objects touching the roof of your mouth. The blood vessels contract as a response in effort to prevent loss of body heat. When the coldness recedes, the vessels relax again, which increases blood flow to the brain. This sudden release is what causes the intense headache sensation.

Honestly, you're not going to give up that ice cream or chilled beverage just to avoid a brain freeze. If you can, then the more power to you, but for those of us who can't part with that sweet sensational ice cream, we have some other plans of attack.

Maybe you could try to let the bite or sip of the cold substance in question to warm on your tongue before letting it touch the roof of your mouth.

As a brain freeze is about to happen, you can quickly relieve the brain freeze pain by warming the roof of your mouth with any warm liquid.

You could also press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. You want to use the underside of your tongue because the top was recently chilled by that Slurpee you just chugged. Pressing it firmly against the roof of the mouth often alleviates brain freezes.

You could also make a mask with your hands to cover your mouth and nose. Breathe quickly, raising the temperature inside your mouth. (I bet you'd get strange looks performing this in a store while running around due to the massive brain freeze...LOL).

Instead of your tongue, you can press your thumb against the palate (roof) of your mouth. But be warned, some people might mistake you for a baby sucking a thumb, so maybe do this one in the comfort of your home away from the public.

If you're an extremist, you might as well wait it out. Then you can brag to your friends how brave you were.