Derek Gets His Free Slurpee And Brain Freeze [VIDEO]

As we all know, today was 7-11-11 making it 7-11 day, which in turn made it free slurpee day! I went and got mine, and gave myself a brain freeze all for the entertainment of the viewer.

SOME BRAIN FREEZE FACTS

• Scientific name of brain freeze is "sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia" I think I will continue to just call it brain freeze.

• It is caused by having something cold touch the roof of the mouth (palate), and is believed to result from a nerve response causing rapid constriction and swelling of blood vessels

• Ice cream headache is the direct result of the rapid cooling and rewarming of the capillaries in the sinuses. A similar but painless blood vessel response causes the face to appear "flushed" after being outside on a cold day. In both instances, the cold temperature causes the capillaries in the sinuses to constrict and then experience extreme rebound dilation as they warm up again.

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They say the best way to prevent a brain freeze is to avoid cold items to touch the roof of your mouth, which is easier said than done.

Relieve brain freeze pain by quickly warming the roof of your mouth (also referred to as the soft palate and hard palate; the hard palate being the part with bone, and the soft without) after it's already been cooled. If you do this soon enough, you may be able to ease the surge of blood flow to your brain:

• Touch your tongue to your soft palate. If you can roll your tongue in a ball, press the bottom of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. The underside of your tongue may be warmer than the top side which was probably cooled by the Slurpee you just chugged. (Some people find that firmly pressing your tongue against the roof of the mouth alleviates brain freeze, so try applying extra pressure!)
• Drink a warm substance. Slowly sipping room temperature water also does the trick for some people.
• Make a mask with your hands to cover your mouth and nose. Breathe quickly, raising the temperature inside your mouth.
• Press a warm thumb against your palate.