Brain freeze has nothing to do with your brain
Link to original article: http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/healthtrending/brain-freeze-has-nothing-to-do-with-your-brain/ar-BBzNnpx
Summary:
Summary:
In a recent article from the New York Daily News, a medical perspective was given as to how brain freeze is cause while eating cold food. As it turns out, brain freeze has little to no impact from the brain. As reported by neuroscientist Dwayne Godwin, a brain freeze is caused by a change in temperature in the arteries when a cold treat is consumed quickly. As a result, the blood vessels on the outsider coving on the brain feels the change and cause brief but vicious feeling that people have when eating. According to Dr. Godwin, "The brain itself doesn't have brain receptors, the brain's covering does." In closing, the article posts remedies if someone were to experience a brain freeze, such as doing rapid breathing and pushing the tongue to the roof of the mouth.
Reflection:
Considering we just recently covered hunger in class, I thought this was an interesting addition on the subject. I always wondered about the science of how eating something cold could cause a certain reaction to the body. I believe this article is novel research as it relates what is happening in the brain and why such pain is being caused. I also posted it if anyone else would interested in knowing what actually happens when a brain freeze occurs. Although this article does not go into details about what structures are affected, I still appreciate how it relates to hunger and how the mind reacts to the pain of eating cold food quickly.
Reflection:
Considering we just recently covered hunger in class, I thought this was an interesting addition on the subject. I always wondered about the science of how eating something cold could cause a certain reaction to the body. I believe this article is novel research as it relates what is happening in the brain and why such pain is being caused. I also posted it if anyone else would interested in knowing what actually happens when a brain freeze occurs. Although this article does not go into details about what structures are affected, I still appreciate how it relates to hunger and how the mind reacts to the pain of eating cold food quickly.
This is a very interesting article! I was just thinking about this the other day when I had a brain freeze. I find it sort of surprising that it has nothing to do with the brain considering a headache can be felt in the same sort of area. Although the cold temperature provokes these feelings, I am very curious how and why this sensation differs from that of eating something that is extremely hot and burns our mouths. I wonder what the exact temperature the arteries are effected. Even though majority of beverages and treats that give us brain freeze are of the freezing temperature, when it enters our mouth, I assume it already begins to melt and decreases in temperature. Maybe it is the way that we insert the frozen treat or just an instant reaction of the arteries. Overall, I think that the feeling and reaction of the mouth is very interesting and could help understand more reactions such as eyes watering when eating spicy foods and more!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool article. As an avid ice cream enthusiast and someone with little to no self control I found this article particularly helpful. My usual tactic in dealing with brain freezes was to scream "Agghhh brain freeze," scrunch my face up, keel over, and occasionally stop eating or drinking the cold food or beverage. Their expert advice of breathing rapidly and pushing your tongue to the roof of your mouth will undoubtedly save me from untold pain and misery in the future, in addition to making me look like total weirdo (not that I need help with that). The advice of breathing rapidly does make sense since doing so would presumably flush warm blood to the arteries in the outer covering of the brain, but I'm curious as to how pushing one's tongue to the roof of their mouth would help.
ReplyDeleteI think this article relates a lot to temperature regulation and the drive to maintain homeostasis. I wonder if this adaptation is unique to endotherms or if ectotherms experience brain freezes as well. Maybe I will experiment on Alfred, my pet gecko.
This is a very interesting article! This whole time I thought a brain freeze that was caused by sensations in the brain due to temperature. I agree with Alexandra; I also thought that a brain freeze would have some associations with the brain. Since when we have headaches the pain is felt near the brain. I wonder at what temperature would a food have to be provoke that change of temperature in the arteries. Is the brain freeze solely centered around the temperature of the item or a combination of the temperature and the rate that food is being consumed? Usually if you eat ice cream and it's hot outside, the ice cream would cool your body down from the heat. But when you eating something too fast, your more likely to feel that brain freeze sensation, so thats why I'm thinking speed and temperature is was contributes to hitting sensations to the arteries.
ReplyDeleteI have luckily never experienced a brain freeze but at least I know how to get rid of one in the future. I thought this article was interesting because I thought a brain freeze would actually happen in the brain. I was surprised with I saw that it actually happens when the temperature changes in the arteries.
ReplyDeleteThis article interests me due to my sensitivity to brain freezes. I get them just about every time I eat/drink something frozen, which surprises me that I haven't looked into the research behind it. Knowing that temperature changes in the arteries are the main cause of the freezing sensation doesn't surprise me, but I have never looked at it that way. I always thought it was heavily influenced by some sort of nerve process. Very interesting!
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