It's a beautiful day, you're sitting in your favorite lawn chair enjoying the scene in front of you while eating your favorite dish, a large chocolate fudge sundae. The perfect moment is just about there when you get bit. Bit by the intense but brief pain of an 'ice cream headache'. If your like me it's no big deal as your ice cream headache will only last for a few seconds and although moderately intense, does not cause sever pain. There are a few people though who do experience terrific pain and it can last for up to a minute.

Did you know that ice cream headache is a scientifically known entity with its very own long-winded name, sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. It actually happens when a very cold beverage or ice cream is held against the roof of your mouth for a while. The tiny blood vessels in the roof of your mouth become quite constricted from the cold. When the cold passes and these blood vessels start to warm a flow of blood comes rushing through. The nerves in this area send a message to the brain that gets interpreted and hits a specific spot in the front of the brain. If you've experienced it then you know the exact area I'm talking about.

Most folks don't bother with finding a cure as it passes quite quickly but if you are one of the folks that has to bare with it for more than a few seconds here are a couple things you can try. Bend over with your head below your waist for a few seconds. The warm blood from the upper part of your body will congregate closer to your head and warm things up more quickly. One other is holding your hands over your mouth and breathing in and out quickly, again to try and heat up the roof of your mouth.