Your Brain Feels No Pain

If the brain feels no pain, what is brain freeze?

brain freeze

Interesting Facts in Easy English

Pre-Listening Vocabulary

  • whine: to complain in a way that annoys others
  • receptor: a cell or nerve that responds to a sense
  • roof of one’s mouth: the palate; above the top of the tongue
  • contract: get smaller
  • overreact: to act as if a minor problem is a serious one
  • dilate: get wider
  • conserve: save
  • sensation: feeling
  • temples: two flat upper parts at the side of the forehead

Your Brain Feels No Pain

You can whine about an or a headache, but you can’t complain about pain in the brain. The human brain has no pain receptors. It can’t tell that it hurts. If the brain feels no pain, what is brain freeze? Brain freeze, also called an ice cream headache, occurs when you eat or drink something cold too quickly. When ice cream touches the roof of your mouth, the in your mouth contract. This sends a message to the brain about a change in your body heat. The brain overreacts and tries to conserve heat by contracting the blood vessels in your head. When the threat is over, the blood vessels in the head relax and dilate. This sends a quick rush of blood to the head. You feel this of blood as pain in your temples, face, or neck, but not in your brain. Try pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth to relieve the sensation of .

Comprehension Questions

  1. Why can’t you complain about pain in the brain?
  2. What is brain freeze?
  3. What can you do to stop brain freeze?

Discussion Question: How many different kinds of pain can you name? What’s the worst kind of pain?

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