Your Brain Feels No Pain
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
Comprehension Questions
- Why can’t you complain about pain in the brain?
- What is brain freeze?
- 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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Your Brain Feels No Pain
You can whine about an earache or a headache, but you can’t complain about pain in the brain. The human brain has no pain receptors. It can’t tell itself 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 blood vessels 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 rush 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 brain freeze.
- You can’t complain about pain in the brain because the brain has no pain receptors.
- Brain freeze is a temporary headache that you feel after ingesting cold food or drink too quickly.
- To stop brain freeze you can warm up the roof of your mouth with your tongue.
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