Ice cream headaches are brief, stabbing headaches that can happen when you eat or drink something cold. An ice-cream headache, also known as brain freeze, cold-rush, cold-stimulus headache. Ice cream is not the only food that can make your head hurt, ice pops, slushy frozen drinks, a-nd other cold foods a-nd drinks can have the same "brain-freeze" effect.

It is possible to suffer from an ice-cream headache in both hot a-nd cold weather, because the effect relies upon the temperature of the food being consumed rather than that of the environment.

"Ice cream headaches" result from quickly eating or drinking very cold substances. It is commonly experienced when applying ice-cream (or similar) to the roof of the mouth (palate) or when swallowing it. Typically, the headache appears in about ten seconds a-nd lasts about twenty seconds, though some people experience much longer episodes of pain; the pain seems to relate to the same side of the head as the cold substance was applied to the palate, or to both sides of the ead in the case of swallowing. The most effective way to prevent it is to consume the cold food or liquid at a slower rate. Keeping it in your mouth long enough for the palate to become used to the temperature is also an effective preventative.

To relieve pain, some doctors suggest pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth to warm the area or tilting the head back for about ten seconds. Another method to relieve ice cream headaches is to drink a liquid that has a higher temperature than the substance that caused the ice cream headache. Some people report relief by breathing in through the mouth a-nd out through the nose, thus passing warm air through the nasal passages.