Why is cold a headache?

KOMPAS.com – You must have lived it. When you have a good time eating ice cream or even ice cubes, a headache attacks you suddenly.

In English, this condition is called "brain gel"Which literally means that the brain is frozen.In the meantime, in the medical world, this condition is known as headaches caused by cold or ganglioneuralgia sphenopalatine.

Report of Science liveOn Tuesday, November 20, 2013, Dr. Stephanie Goldberg, an expert in neurology and headaches at Tufts Medical Center, said headaches can occur in seconds if exposed to very cold temperatures. The pain may suddenly peak.

Then you have to know that brain gel not just because of internal triggers, such as eating ice too quickly; but also because of external triggers, like jumping into a cold pool.

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When very cold substances, such as food or air, touch the roof of the mouth or the back of the throat, the blood vessels and nerves of this area are stimulated.

As the 2012 preliminary findings explain, this increase in blood flow then causes an increase in the size of the blood vessels in the center of the brain and behind the eye (anterior cerebral artery). In response to reduced blood flow, the artery contracts and causes headaches.

However, there are other explanations. Goldberg said that a cold sensation could activate important nerves in the head and face, called trigeminal nerve. When this happens, the blood vessels in the head contract shortly before dilating rapidly. The result is a sudden headache.

Headaches due to cold sensations are not life threatening, but can be troublesome, especially for people with migraines.

According to Goldberg, the only way to prevent it is to slowly eat cold food and to prevent cold substances from ending up on the palate.