How to Prevent Brain Freeze

When something cold touches the roof of your mouth, it can cause a nerve reaction that causes the blood vessels in your head to swell. This causes a short-term headache, also known as brain freeze. If you hate that sudden blinding pain, you can prevent brain freeze from occurring by following a few simple tips.

Instructions

• 1

  Avoid eating really cold foods. If you tend to get brain freeze often, you may want to avoid the foods that trigger this response. You can also eat the same cold foods but do so when they are at a slightly warmer temperature. Of course, this will make your ice cream a bit melted, but if you hate the pain, it may be an option you can live with.

• 2

  Eat frozen foods slowly. This will help prevent your mouth from becoming too cold and will help your treat last longer.

• 3

  Pause between bites to let your mouth warm up a bit. Although it's hard to wait to gobble down a great ice cream cone, taking it more slowly will help prevent that blinding headache.

• 4

  Position cold foods in other areas of your mouth to eat them, keeping cold foods away from the roof of your mouth. This can be tricky in some cases, but try positioning the food towards the sides of your mouth instead.

• 5

  Choose warmer foods on hot days. Brain freeze happens when the mouth experiences a drastic temperature change. Some studies have suggested that it happens more often on hot days when the cold food triggers a bigger difference in temperature. By avoiding the steep temperature drop, you'll prevent brain freeze from happening.