ice cream headache

Noun

ice cream headache (plural ice cream headaches)

1. A type of headache caused by cold around the brain, either at the back of the throat when eating ice cream (as the name suggests), or from cold around the outside of the head.
   • In my wilder days as a winter surfer we all knew about the sickening frontal headache that resulted within seconds of driving through a breaking wave. The pain continued for 20 to 30 seconds, only to be reinforced by the next breaking wave. Even then (35 years ago) we always referred to the pain as...Harris, Mark (6 September 1997), “Cerebral vasoconstriction causing decrease in arterial flow may have role”, in Ice cream headache, volume 315, number 609
   • What most of us learn as children to call a brain freeze or ice cream headache is referred to by scientists as a cold-stimulus headache, Starling says. […] Irene Toldo, a professor of child neurology and psychiatry at the University of Padua in Italy, and her colleagues examined four decades of...2026 May 30, Elizabeth Anne Brown, “Brain freeze? Ice cream headaches can reveal a surprising amount about your health”, in BBC, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2026

   Synonyms:

   brain freeze