The most common cause of head pain is ice cream, occurring in one third of a randomly selected population. It has been estimated that 30% of the population experiences brain freeze. It occurs regardless of whether someone suffers from other types of headache. Children know all about ice cream headache, although they know it best by the descriptive term "brain freeze."

A lot of people suffer from ice cream headache. Frozen brain syndrome or ice cream headache are a form of cranial pain or headache which people are known to sometimes experience. The vascular mechanisms invoked to explain the features of migraine were also applied to ice cream headache. When you eat or drink, food or liquid touches your palate before you swallow. When something very cold touches the center of the palate, the cold temperature can set off certain nerves that control how much blood flows to your head.

The nerves respond by causing the blood vessels in the head to swell up or dilate. The dilation may be caused by a nerve center located above the roof of your mouth - when this nerve center gets cold it seems to over-react and tries to heat your brain. This quick swelling of the blood vessels is what causes your head to pound and hurt. When one eats ice cream quickly, this is more likely to happen than when eating slowly. Some people call this a "brain freeze," even though nothing is really happening in the brain - it's all in the blood vessels of the head. Ice cream, cold soda, water, milk, or juice can make the blood vessels swell.

Ice cream headache or headache caused by another cold food usually lasts about a minute or so, although it can feel like much longer. This kind of headache almost never lasts more than 5 minutes, and it goes away on its own. And although you may feel pain, it's not dangerous and doesn't mean that anything is wrong in your body.

Ice cream headache doesn't normally require treatment, and sufferers rarely seek medical attention. Since the posterior aspect of the palate is most likely to produce the referred pain of ice cream headache, avoiding contact of the cold food with this area can effectively eliminate the symptoms. Most people arrive at such preventive measures without the advice of doctors. Ice cream abstinence is not indicated. Some doctors say that simply eating cold foods more slowly can help prevent ice cream headache.

You can also try warming foods up a tiny bit in the front of your mouth before swallowing them. And if you start to feel an ice cream headache coming on, you may be able to slow it down by holding your tongue against your palate. This will warm up your palate a little so you can enjoy the rest of your chilly dessert. To alleviate brain freeze also try taking a sip or two of a warm beverage, such as hot water, hot chocolate, or even coffee, when the brain freeze hits. This seems to get rid of the pain quickly for some people.

Some people actually enjoy brain freeze. They say that it can take away a headache. The easiest way to avoid ice cream headache would be to keep cold things away from the roof of your mouth.