The Brain Freeze - that annoying "ice cream headache" that you get from eating something cold. Thankfully, it doesn't last long, maybe 10 or 20 seconds. I read something a long time ago which said that if you press your tongue against the roof of your mouth the pain will go away quickly because your pallet is warm and it combats the coldness in your mouth which your brain is actually saying "Hey, slow down!"

You can click here for Wikipedia's article on it, but basically it says:

An 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.

I started to research this phenomenon of the dreaded Brain Freeze and I will be honest with you, I got bored. As much as I like science, I wasn't in the mood for a science lesson. So, instead, I give you this video showing cats experiencing something that we all know so well. Please know, I would never post anything that would harm or scare an animal and of course I made sure. According to this article at popsci.com Neurosurgeon Rafael Tamargo of Johns Hopkins Hospital says the resting temperature range of the brain is between 98.6˚F and 100.4˚, and he goes on to say:

There are situations, particularly for correcting blood-vessel problems like an aneurysm, where we cool the brain in order to stop circulation to an area to perform our work safely," he says. When the brain is chilled to 68˚, its metabolism and electrical activity drop to 15 percent; surgeons reduce it to 64˚ for good measure. Even if the patient wasn't anesthetized, at that temperature they would be in a noninteractive state, unable to sense stimuli or produce a response, but once you warm the brain up, it picks right up from where it left off. It's not harmful at all.

So, Happy Feline Friday! I hope you enjoy this compilation of some kitties enjoying ice cream with the downside that we are also familiar with.

Listen to Linda G weekdays from 3-7pm on 105.5 FM, online at kicks1055.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPup app for your mobile device.

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