What is a brain freeze?

What is a brain freeze?

Brain freeze is a brief but intense pain in the front part of your head. It occurs when you eat, drink or breathe something extremely cold, such as:

• Freezing air.
• Frozen or slushy drinks.
• Ice cream.
• Ice cubes.
• Ice pops (popsicles).

A brain freeze is sometimes called an ice cream headache, a cold-induced headache or a cold stimulus headache. The scientific term is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.