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Why can’t old drinking glasses go in the glass recycling bin?
by Carolin Teufelberger
Why do we get brain freeze?
15-9-2022
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
You’re probably familiar with the phenomenon. Eat or drink something that’s very cold and you’ll suffer a short-lived stabbing headache also known as brain freeze.
It’s 1998 and I’m in the US. It’s the first time I’m confronted with the concept of an ice-cold milkshake. Yummy! Two big gulps follow. «Oooow!» My face contorts as a sharp pain spreads across my head. My father explains to me that I got a brain freeze from drinking too fast.
Why is that?
The palate reacting to the cold
The symptoms I experienced are pretty spot on, too. «There’s typically a headache that ascends on both sides in the forehead or temples. It’s usually piercing or pressing and spontaneously subsides within a maximum of 30 minutes after the stimulus is removed.» Thirty minutes? Fortunately, my brain freezes never lasted more than a few seconds.
What exactly causes this cold pain is not fully clear yet. According to Schankin, there are two possible triggers: on the one hand, it could be due to the rapid contraction or relaxation of the blood vessels that have come into contact with the cold. Blood vessels contain a lot of nerves that mediate pain with this sudden change in diameter. «On the other hand, it’s possible that the cold directly activates the pain sensors of the nerves, thereby causing pain.»
But it’s not just age; genetics also come into play. The risk of experiencing brain freeze is many times higher if one of your parents suffers from it, he explains. In my family, that’s definitely my father. On that trip to the US, I watched him wince as he took a large gulp of his chocolate milkshake.
Why does the second hand of the Swiss railway clock pause before a new minute? Why is popcorn served at the movies? And why don’t beverage glasses go in the same bin as other glass? Everyday life is filled with intriguing questions, the answers to which I’m determined to find. If you have a burning question of your own but no time to research it, shoot m e an e-mail. I like doing the dirty work.
My life in a nutshell? On a quest to broaden my horizon. I love discovering and learning new skills and I see a chance to experience something new in everything – be it travelling, reading, cooking, movies or DIY.
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