The other day, I decided to try a lemon freeze drink from one of my favorite cafes. Apparently I drank it a little faster than I realized, and before I knew it I had brain freeze! In case you’ve never experienced it, brain freeze can be awfully uncomfortable!
The experience got me thinking about all the weird body quirks we have and where they come from. So I did some research on some common – but strange! – body quirks and this is what I found.
The Brain Freeze
Another frozen treat and another brain freeze. “Ice cream headaches” happen when something cold touches nerves in the roof of the mouth, triggering blood vessels in the front of your head to constrict -- producing pain. Try this quick pain relief trick: Press your tongue to the roof of your mouth to warm it up. (I could have used this tip when drinking my lemon freeze!)
Ear Popping
We’ve all yawned on a plane trip to “pop” our ears. What we’re doing is equalizing the pressure between the inside and the outside of our eardrum as the altitude changes. That "pop" means a tube connecting your middle ear to the back of your throat has opened, letting air flow through. To help, you can also close your mouth, hold your nose, and blow gently; or try chewing gum.
Vertigo
Whoa! If it feels like the room’s moving when it’s not, it could be vertigo. Sometimes caused by inner ear inflammation or decreased blood flow to the brain, vertigo can last minutes, even hours. To distinguish vertigo from dizziness, there must be a feeling of motion; other symptoms may include nausea or vomiting, sweating and unusual eye movements.
Sleeping Limbs
Ever get that “pins and needles” feeling in your arm or leg? This temporary and harmless tingling is caused by lack of movement, or constant pressure on that body part. That leaves those cells unable to transmit messages to your brain. The cure is super simple: change positions.
Hiccups
Hiccups are an uncontrollable contraction of the diaphragm (the breathing muscle under the lungs). Eating fast, overdoing alcohol, or swallowing air can all cause the hiccups. They usually go away on their own, but you can try remedies like holding your breath, quickly drinking water and breathing in a bag to help hasten hiccups away.
Charley Horse
These startling spasms and tightening in leg muscles can last a few seconds, even several minutes. While the cramps have no exact cause, dehydration, muscle overuse, and a lack of certain nutrients -- like potassium and calcium -- can be culprits. Walk around to relieve the pain, or shake your leg and stretch the muscle. To learn more about charley horses, check out my recent post on cramps.
Check out this slideshow from WebMD! It gives you information on the issues above and more.
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