When nausea hits and you feel like you’re about to vomit, a few techniques can help your body pull back from the edge. Some work in seconds, others take a few minutes, but most require nothing more than your hands, your breath, or something you already have at home. Here’s what actually works, starting with the fastest options.
Sniff Rubbing Alcohol
This is one of the quickest tricks available. Inhaling the scent of an isopropyl alcohol pad (a standard rubbing alcohol wipe) can significantly reduce nausea within minutes. In a randomized trial published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, nearly 73% of people who inhaled isopropyl alcohol experienced significant nausea relief within four minutes, compared to less than 5% of people who sniffed a plain saline pad. More than half still felt better at the ten-minute mark.
The protocol is simple: hold an alcohol prep pad a few inches from your nose and breathe in slowly for about 60 seconds. You can repeat this every two minutes if needed. If you don’t have prep pads, even opening a bottle of rubbing alcohol and taking a few gentle sniffs can help. The sharp scent seems to interrupt the nausea signal before it escalates to vomiting.
Press the P6 Point on Your Wrist
There’s a pressure point on the inside of your wrist called P6 (or Neiguan) that has been used for centuries to calm nausea, and it’s the same point targeted by anti-nausea wristbands. To find it, place three fingers from your opposite hand flat across the inside of your wrist, starting just below the crease where your hand meets your arm. The point sits right below where your third finger lands, in the groove between the two large tendons that run down the center of your wrist.
Press firmly with your thumb and hold for one to two minutes. You can do this on either wrist or both. It won’t work for everyone, but it’s free, immediate, and safe enough to try while you’re also doing other things on this list.
Control Your Breathing
Nausea and anxiety feed each other. When you feel like you’re about to throw up, your breathing often becomes fast and shallow, which makes the sensation worse. Deliberately slowing your breath can break the cycle. Box breathing is one of the simplest methods: breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale through your mouth for four seconds, then pause for four seconds before repeating. Even three or four rounds can noticeably settle your stomach.
If the nausea is partly driven by stress or panic, a body scan can also help. Start by focusing your attention on your feet, then slowly move your awareness up through your legs, torso, and chest. This pulls your brain’s focus away from the nausea and into neutral physical sensations. It sounds too simple to work, but redirecting attention is one of the most effective ways to interrupt the brain’s vomiting reflex when anxiety is a trigger.
Cool Down Your Body
When you’re nauseated, your body temperature often rises slightly, and that warmth can push you closer to vomiting. Placing a cool, damp cloth on the back of your neck for several minutes helps lower your core temperature and provides a calming sensory distraction. A cold washcloth on the forehead works too. If you’re overheating, move to a cooler room, sit near a fan, or step outside into fresh air. Stuffy, warm environments make nausea considerably worse.
Try Ginger
Ginger is one of the most well-studied natural remedies for nausea. It contains compounds called gingerols and shogaols that act on receptors in the digestive tract to calm the stomach. Clinical trials have used doses ranging from 250 mg to 1 g taken in divided portions throughout the day, and higher doses (up to 2 g) didn’t prove more effective than 1 g.
In practical terms, you can chew on a small piece of raw ginger, sip ginger tea, or take a ginger supplement capsule. Ginger ale is less reliable because many brands contain very little actual ginger and a lot of sugar, which can irritate an already upset stomach. If you’re shopping for ginger products specifically for nausea, look for real ginger root listed as an ingredient rather than “natural flavoring.”
Other Quick Tactics
A few more strategies that can help in the moment:
- Sit upright or recline slightly. Lying flat can increase pressure on your stomach and make vomiting more likely. Sitting up or propping yourself at a slight angle lets gravity work in your favor.
- Avoid strong smells. Your sense of smell is heightened when you’re nauseated. Move away from cooking odors, perfumes, or anything pungent.
- Suck on ice chips. If your mouth is watering heavily (a common pre-vomiting sign), sucking on ice chips gives you something to swallow without flooding your stomach with liquid.
- Shock your senses. Eating a sour candy, biting into a lemon wedge, or splashing cold water on your face can jolt your nervous system enough to interrupt the nausea reflex.
- Stop moving. Motion of any kind, even scrolling on your phone, can worsen nausea. Stay as still as possible and fix your gaze on a stable point.
If You Do Throw Up
Sometimes the nausea wins despite your best efforts. If you do vomit, give your stomach a break of at least a few hours before eating or drinking anything substantial. Start with small sips of water or ice chips every 15 minutes and gradually increase as you tolerate it. Oral rehydration solutions or diluted broth are better choices than juice or soda, which can irritate your stomach lining.
You may have heard of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) as a recovery plan. While those foods are gentle, the CDC considers the BRAT diet unnecessarily restrictive and nutritionally incomplete. A better approach is to return to your normal diet as soon as you feel ready, starting with whatever bland foods appeal to you. Your gut recovers faster when it has real nutrition to work with, not just starch.
Warning Signs That Need Medical Attention
Most nausea and vomiting pass on their own within a day or two. But certain symptoms alongside vomiting signal something more serious. Get to an emergency room if your vomit contains blood, looks like coffee grounds, or is bright green. Severe abdominal pain, chest pain, confusion, a high fever with a stiff neck, or blurred vision alongside vomiting all warrant immediate care.
Dehydration is the other major risk. If you can’t keep any fluids down for more than 12 hours, or you notice dark urine, dry mouth, dizziness when standing, or extreme thirst, you likely need medical help to rehydrate safely.