HOW COME? Why brain freeze hits

How come too much ice cream gives you brain freeze? How do you get rid of it? asks Adriana Vollono, a student in Brookville, NY.

Even though brain freeze pain peaks in seconds and quickly fades, it can put a real damper on ice cream excitement.

Still, there are simple steps we can take to lessen or avoid brain freeze. And new research as to what triggers it to begin with.

Just a minute or two of milkshake sipping may be enough to trigger the sensation: A freezing ache spreading across forehead and temples, sometimes advancing to the top and sides of the head. (Some unlucky people also get a frosty toothache, or painful "esophagus freeze," as the milkshake plummets to the stomach in an icy avalanche.)

In one 2005 brain freeze experiment in Japan, participants chomped 12 ounces of shaved ice in 10 minutes. At a little over two minutes into the ice swallowing, the volunteers began to get headaches -- some of them severe. They came down with sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia -- aka ice cream headache.

What causes the painful sensation? Some say the ache is referred pain from chilled nerves in the roof of the mouth and throat. Consuming icy-cold food or drinks may also overstimulate the trigeminal nerve, which runs through the cheeks and temples. Others say the pain is due mainly to cold-responding blood vessels in the mouth and head.

A 2012 study conducted by researchers at Harvard and the University of Ireland found some answers. Volunteers sipped ice water through a straw, aiming it at their upper palate, raising their hands at the first twinge of brain freeze.

Using ultrasound equipment, researchers monitored blood flow in the participants' brains. As the icy headaches began, scientists found that the anterior cerebral artery expanded rapidly, "flooding the brain" with blood. When the artery returned to normal, the pain receded, too. While the maneuver may ensure that the brain stays warm, the researchers say, the sudden rush of blood raises pressure in the head, triggering pain.

So whatever the cause(s), it's clear that keeping icy foods and drinks away from the roof of the mouth can reduce your chances of brain freeze. And that the quicker we down icy concoctions, the higher our chances of getting a headache. Sip slowly, point straws away from your upper palate, and don't bite off huge chunks of an ice cream cone.

If brain freeze hits, try touching your warm tongue to the roof of your mouth, or sipping a warm drink. Ice cream, after all, should make you scream with happiness, not pain.