Most vertigo can be treated at home, especially the most common type, which is caused by tiny calcium crystals dislodging inside your inner ear. This condition, called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), accounts for the majority of vertigo cases and responds remarkably well to specific head movements you can do on your own. Clinical studies show these repositioning maneuvers resolve symptoms in 64% to 93% of people, often within just a few sessions.
The key is identifying what kind of vertigo you have, choosing the right maneuver, and knowing when home treatment isn’t enough.
Figure Out Which Ear Is Causing It
Before you try any repositioning maneuver, you need to know which ear is affected. Pay attention to which direction triggers your spinning. When you roll over in bed, does turning to the right or the left set it off? When you tilt your head back, does the room spin more when your right or left ear faces the floor? The ear closest to the ground when symptoms hit is typically the one with displaced crystals.
A healthcare provider can confirm this with a diagnostic test called the Dix-Hallpike maneuver, where they quickly lower your head while turning it to one side and watch your eye movements. If your eyes show involuntary flickering while a specific ear faces the floor, that’s the affected side. You can’t reliably perform this test on yourself, but your own observations about which positions trigger spinning will usually point you in the right direction.
The Epley Maneuver
The Epley maneuver is the most studied and effective home treatment for BPPV. It works by guiding the loose crystals through the semicircular canals of your inner ear and back into a chamber where they no longer cause problems. At a two-week follow-up, studies found a 93.3% success rate with this technique.
Here’s how to do it for your right ear (mirror the directions for the left):
- Position 1: Sit on a bed with your legs extended. Turn your head 45 degrees to the right.
- Position 2: Keeping your head turned, quickly lie back so your shoulders are on the bed and your head hangs slightly over the edge, supported by the mattress. Hold for 30 seconds.
- Position 3: Without lifting your head, turn it 90 degrees to the left. Hold for 30 seconds.
- Position 4: Roll your body onto your left side while turning your head another 90 degrees so you’re facing the floor. Hold for 30 seconds.
- Position 5: Slowly sit up on the left side of the bed.
You may be advised to perform this sequence three times a day until your symptoms have been gone for a full 24 hours. Some people feel immediate relief after one session. Others need several days of repetition.
The Half-Somersault (Foster) Maneuver
If the Epley feels awkward or triggers intense nausea, the half-somersault maneuver is a good alternative. Developed by Dr. Carol Foster at the University of Colorado, it can be done on the floor without a bed and doesn’t require you to hang your head backward.
For the right ear:
- Step 1: Kneel on the floor and tilt your chin up toward the ceiling. Wait for any dizziness to stop.
- Step 2: Place your head on the floor in front of you, tucking your chin as if you’re about to do a somersault.
- Step 3: Turn your head to face your right elbow. Hold for 30 seconds or until dizziness fades.
- Step 4: Raise your head quickly to back level, keeping it turned toward your right shoulder. Hold for 30 seconds.
- Step 5: Raise your head fully upright, keeping it turned slightly to the right. Then slowly straighten your head to center.
Wait 15 minutes between attempts. The crystals need time to settle after each round.
Brandt-Daroff Exercises for Lingering Symptoms
Brandt-Daroff exercises work differently from the Epley and half-somersault. Rather than repositioning crystals in a single session, they gradually train your brain to compensate for the abnormal signals from your inner ear. They’re especially useful when repositioning maneuvers haven’t fully resolved your symptoms, or when you can’t determine which ear is affected.
Sit on the edge of your bed. Quickly lie down on one side with your nose pointed about 45 degrees toward the ceiling. Stay there for 30 seconds or until the dizziness passes, whichever is longer. Return to sitting for 30 seconds, then drop to the opposite side. That’s one repetition. Do several repetitions at least twice a day. Improvement with this approach tends to be gradual, developing over weeks or sometimes months rather than in a single session.
What to Do After a Repositioning Maneuver
How you move in the hours following a maneuver matters. For the rest of the day after treatment, avoid bending over. For several days afterward, don’t sleep on the side that triggers your symptoms. These precautions help keep the crystals from sliding back into the wrong position before they have a chance to reattach.
Some people feel mildly off-balance or slightly nauseated for a day or two after a successful maneuver. That’s normal. The intense spinning episodes should stop, even if a vague unsteadiness lingers briefly.
Dietary Changes That May Help
If your vertigo is related to Ménière’s disease or vestibular migraines rather than BPPV, diet plays a larger role. Excess sodium causes fluid retention in the inner ear, which can worsen pressure and trigger episodes. The recommended target is about 1,500 mg of sodium per day, with an upper limit of 2,300 mg. For reference, a single fast-food meal can easily exceed 1,500 mg on its own.
Caffeine and alcohol may also contribute to symptoms. Both can tighten blood vessels and reduce blood flow to the inner ear. Cutting back on coffee, energy drinks, and alcohol won’t cure BPPV, but it can reduce the frequency and severity of episodes for people with fluid-related vestibular conditions.
Staying well hydrated is one of the simplest and most overlooked strategies. Dehydration reduces blood volume, which can lower blood pressure and make dizziness worse, regardless of the underlying cause.
Ginger for Nausea and Dizziness
Ginger has genuine evidence behind it for dizziness-related nausea. One study found it outperformed dimenhydrinate (the active ingredient in Dramamine) for motion sickness symptoms. Most clinical research has used between 250 mg and 1 g of powdered ginger root in capsule form, taken one to four times daily. Fresh ginger tea or ginger chews can also help settle your stomach during vertigo episodes, though exact dosing is harder to control with whole root.
Ginger won’t reposition inner ear crystals or fix the underlying cause of vertigo, but it can make the experience significantly more tolerable while you work through repositioning exercises.
When Home Treatment Isn’t Working
Repositioning maneuvers are highly effective for BPPV, but not all vertigo is BPPV. If your symptoms don’t improve after a week of consistent home maneuvers, the cause may be something else entirely: vestibular neuritis (inflammation of the inner ear nerve), Ménière’s disease, vestibular migraines, or in rare cases, something more serious.
Vertigo paired with new hearing loss, severe headache, difficulty speaking, numbness, or trouble walking needs prompt medical evaluation. These symptoms suggest the problem is neurological rather than a simple crystal displacement. Similarly, if your vertigo comes with a feeling of fullness in one ear and fluctuating hearing, that pattern points toward Ménière’s disease, which requires a different management approach than what repositioning maneuvers can offer.