Why do some people get headaches after eating ice cream?
The medical term for this is pterygopalatine ganglion pain, also known as ice cream headache, cold stimulation headache, or even "brain freeze".
Although the names are varied, they all say the same thing - the rapid entry of cold food or drink into the mouth and pharynx causes intense cold stimulation of the mucous membranes, which, through a reflex in the pterygopalatine ganglion, causes sharp contractions of the temporal arteries and facial muscles. When the cold stimulus stops, the temporal artery passively diastoles again, causing pressure stimulation of the blood flow on the arterial nerve endings, causing headaches.
So, this headache has a rather distinctive feature - the immediate feeling of tense pain in the muscles around the throat just after swallowing a cold drink in a big gulp, followed immediately by the beginning of pain on both sides of the temples synchronized with the pulse (so-called throbbing pain or throbbing pain). This characteristic evolution of pain is caused by nerve reflexes.
So far, there is no treatment for this disease and if you have a headache caused by a quick drink of an ice-cold beverage or a quick devouring of ice-cream, you can only be advised to slow down and not eat so cold.
Although this is a "disease", but in fact, not much damage to health, it is just a kind of overreaction of the body to the cold stimulus, only the subjective feeling will be more painful.
The official name for this ice cream headache is "ice cream headache". Others may go by another, more vivid name: "brain freeze."
It's not just eating ice cream that can cause headaches, but anytime you eat large amounts of cold food, drinks, or even just inhale cold air, the cold temperatures irritate the palate and back wall of the throat.
The exact mechanism regarding the formation of ice cream headaches is actually not particularly clear.Possible causes are a sudden cold stimulus that triggers capillary constriction in the oral mucosa, which directly stimulates the cranial nerves and causes trigeminal neuralgia, or the confusing signals to the brain from the cold stimulus, which triggers intracranial vasoconstriction and causes vascular headaches.
Ice cream headaches are more common in adolescents, but they don't necessarily occur in everyone, and those with a past history of migraines are relatively more prone to episodes of ice cream headaches.
Having an ice cream headache may not be a bad thing, it can remind us that you are consuming too much cold food or too fast, and if you don't take care of it in moderation, it may have worse effects on your body. For example, it can damage the stomach and intestines, causing abdominal pain and diarrhea, among other problems.
How to Prevent or Avoid Ice Cream Headaches
Having an ice cream headache doesn't mean there is a serious illness to worry too much about. Since it is caused by eating a lot of cold food and drinks quickly in the heat of summer, we just have to be careful to avoid gobbling down frozen food and take it a little easy.
Some studies have found that "ice cream headaches" may not be exclusive to cold foods, but can be caused by hot and cold stimuli in the mouth. This suggests that a harmonious balance between humans and the natural environment should be the healthiest state for people.
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There is a disease called "ice cream headache", the disease is also known as the scientific name of the "pterygopalatine ganglion neuralgia", ice food swallowed too fast or a mouthful of too much to swallow, the nerve group will send the wrong signals to the brain, resulting in spasms of the cerebral arteries, as if the brain was As if the brain was "frozen", the blood flow violently impacted the pain nerve endings, then people will feel in the middle of the forehead or near the temples severe pain, some people may also be nausea and vomiting.
Doctor's advice: When eating ice cream, ice drinks and other icy foods in the summer, don't rush too fast, it's best to hold it in your mouth before swallowing.
(Yangcheng Metro Newspaper reporter Li Jiahua)
Thanks for the invite, this one is actually fairly common and, academically it has a moniker - ice cream headache.
Today in Beijing, although the air is very nice with blue sky and white clouds, the temperature is very high and the sun exposure is so severe that it's a heat wave when you walk on the road. I'm sure everyone's thought at this point is how cool it would be to have an ice cream!
However, some people take a big sip and feel their head start to hurt. This is not uncommon. What's going on here? Is it because there is something harmful in the ice cream that causes headaches?
Actually no. The main ingredients in ice cream are water, milk, eggs, sweeteners, fats and oils, and other food additives (including stabilizers, emulsifiers, colorants, and flavors from a variety of flavor sources, etc.), all of which are safe and do not cause headaches.
So why do you get a headache after eating ice cream? Actually, it's mainly because the temperature is too low.
In fact, it's not just ice cream, but other cold foods as well. It's a series of chain reactions that occur when an extremely cold food or drink comes into contact with the base of the tongue, a symptom that medical doctors call "Ice Cream Headache”（ice cream headache）。
This headache is usually located in the middle of the forehead and usually occurs after a few seconds of quickly eating a cold drink, with the pain peaking at 30-60 seconds, and in a few cases that last longer. Moreover, there are some more severe cases showing the possibility of inducing epilepsy as well.
And, ice cream headaches are more likely to occur in the summer in hot climates. Why? It could be because of the rapid contraction and dilation of sinus capillaries caused by large amounts of cold food, which stimulates pain receptors and triggers trigeminal neuralgia. It may also be due to cold food to the maxillary vasoconstriction, the pressure receptors on the walls of the blood vessels, this change will be informed to the brain, the body in order to ensure that the blood supply to the brain reflexively increase the anterior cerebral artery into the cerebral blood flow and the occurrence of pain.
So don't be in a hurry when you want to eat ice cream when it's very hot in the summer, try to slow down and savor it slowly to prevent headaches.
Due to the low temperature of the ice cream, it irritated the blood vessels in the brain ah.
When you eat ice cream, the palatine nerve receives a signal of low temperature and the blood vessels contract, and when there is no more ice cream in your mouth, the temperature returns to normal and the blood vessels dilate rapidly again. With such rapid vasoconstriction and dilatation, the blood pressure in the head will change and pain will easily occur.
Not only eat ice cream. For example, some people after exercise, sweaty, with cold water on the head, although it is indeed very "relief", but after the headache is also very easy to occur, that is, the folk saying will be "excited" to, the same reason.
In fact, some migraines are also triggered by temperature changes.
Therefore, from a health point of view, it is the same reason that when the weather is hot, it will be advocated that people should not set the air-conditioning temperature too low. This may be just a momentary headache for healthy ordinary people, not a big deal, but for the cerebrovascular fragility, function has deteriorated in the elderly, in the hot summer, high temperature, low air pressure, the body's endocrine metabolism is affected, blood viscosity changes, atherosclerotic blood vessel brittleness increases, once the temperature changes in the magnitude of the large intracranial blood vessels are difficult to adapt to the occurrence of large blood pressure fluctuations, cerebrovascular accidents will be There will be a significant increase in the number of cerebrovascular accidents.
Ice cream, is a kind of dessert, a lot of foodies are very favorite, especially women, very love to eat ice cream. The peak time to eat ice cream is mainly in the hot summer, in addition to eating ice cream, people will also eat ice watermelon, popsicles or and ice drinks and so on. But why do some people get headaches after eating ice cream? Here's a look at what this is all about!
I. Causes of headaches after eating ice cream!
In fact, not only eating ice cream can cause headaches, but also eating other cold foods can also cause headaches, which is mainly due to a series of reactions caused by too cold food or drink after touching the base of the tongue, which is also known as "ice cream pain" in medicine.
This is according to a 2012 study that found that when cold food stimulates the vascular nerve tissue in the palate or the back of the throat, it causes rapid vasoconstriction and dilatation of the blood vessels, resulting in a sudden increase in blood flow, leading to dilatation of the anterior cerebral artery, which causes the brain to freeze in pain, which stops when the anterior artery constricts.
This phenomenon is also known as "brain freeze", but the headaches that occur are relatively short, probably a few dozen seconds, and will not cause permanent damage to the human body, much less threaten the safety of human life.
In addition, this "ice cream pain" can happen to anyone, although those who suffer from migraines are more likely to experience it and the pain may be more intense.
And the main manifestations include having sudden paroxysms of pain in the forehead, a tingling sensation, throbbing pain in the temples, and feeling nauseous.
What should I do when I have an "ice cream headache"?
Although the "ice cream pain" goes away on its own, in addition to the pain, it may also cause tears and vomiting, sometimes for a longer period of time.
So it is still necessary to take measures to alleviate the discomfort in it, after eating cold food leads to headache, it is recommended to massage the location of the pain, but you can also be on the side of the pain of the Hetani point appropriate pinch or massage, can play a role in alleviating the discomfort.
In addition to massage, you can also drink some warm boiled water to warm up your mouth properly, which can also provide relief benefits.
If the symptoms of "ice cream pain" are not relieved even after taking the above measures, it is best to seek medical help immediately!
In conclusion, you should avoid eating too much cold food and keep your head warm to help prevent ice cream pain.
These are the reasons why eating ice cream can give you a headache and suggestions to solve the problem!
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