When nausea hits, a few simple strategies can help you feel better quickly: sip cold water in small amounts, breathe slowly through your nose, and avoid strong smells or heavy foods. Most nausea passes on its own within a few hours, but the right combination of remedies can shorten that window and keep you more comfortable while it lasts.
Start With What You Eat and Drink
An empty stomach can make nausea worse, but so can eating too much at once. Small, frequent bites of bland food are the safest bet. The classic approach is the BRAT diet: bananas, white rice, applesauce, and white toast. These foods are easy to digest, unlikely to irritate your stomach, and gentle enough to keep down when you’re feeling rough.
Hydration matters more than food in the short term. Nausea that leads to vomiting can leave you dehydrated fast. Take small sips of water or a clear electrolyte drink rather than gulping large amounts, which can trigger more nausea. If plain water doesn’t sit well, you can make a simple rehydration drink at home with water, a pinch of salt, a bit of sugar, and a splash of juice. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, both of which can worsen dehydration and stomach irritation.
Ginger: What Actually Works
Ginger is the most studied natural remedy for nausea, and the evidence supports it for certain situations. A systematic review of clinical trials found that taking 1 gram or more of ginger daily for at least three days helped reduce vomiting. At doses under 1 gram per day taken for more than four days, ginger supplementation reduced acute vomiting by about 70% in people undergoing chemotherapy compared to a placebo.
The practical takeaway: ginger works best when you use it consistently over several days rather than as a one-time fix. Ginger capsules, ginger tea, and ginger candy are all reasonable options. If you’re dealing with nausea that you know will last (morning sickness, a course of treatment, a multi-day trip), starting ginger early gives you the best chance of benefit.
Peppermint Inhalation
Breathing in peppermint oil is a surprisingly effective technique. The menthol in peppermint relaxes smooth muscle in the digestive tract, reduces muscle contractions that contribute to the nausea sensation, and creates a cooling feeling that can interrupt the nausea signal. In one clinical trial, patients who inhaled peppermint essential oil experienced nausea that lasted roughly half as long and was about half as severe as those who didn’t.
You don’t need a diffuser. Place a drop of peppermint essential oil on a cotton ball or tissue and hold it near your nose, breathing slowly. Even peppermint tea held close to your face can help. The key is the inhalation, not ingestion.
The Wrist Pressure Point Technique
There’s a pressure point on the inside of your wrist called P6 (or Neiguan) that can ease mild nausea when pressed firmly. To find it, place the first three fingers of your opposite hand flat across the inside of your wrist, just below the crease where your hand meets your arm. Where your third finger lands, feel for the groove between the two large tendons that run down the center of your wrist. Press that spot firmly with your thumb for one to two minutes. It shouldn’t hurt. Repeat on the other wrist.
This works well enough that “sea bands,” the elastic wristbands with a small plastic button, are designed to apply continuous pressure to this exact spot. They’re inexpensive and worth trying for motion sickness or morning sickness, situations where nausea comes and goes over hours.
Over-the-Counter Medications
When home remedies aren’t enough, antihistamine-based medications are the most widely available option. Dimenhydrinate (sold as Dramamine) and meclizine (sold as Bonine or Dramamine-N) are designed specifically for motion sickness and general nausea. Meclizine tends to cause less drowsiness than dimenhydrinate, which makes it a better choice if you need to stay alert.
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) also has anti-nausea properties, though drowsiness is a significant side effect. Bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) works differently, coating the stomach lining and reducing irritation, and is a solid choice when nausea comes with an upset stomach or mild diarrhea.
For pregnancy-related nausea, the combination of vitamin B6 and doxylamine is the standard first-line treatment. This is available as a prescription delayed-release tablet, taken at bedtime on an empty stomach. If symptoms don’t improve after a few days, the dose can be increased to twice daily. Vitamin B6 on its own is available over the counter and is often tried first.
Preventing Motion Sickness
If your nausea is triggered by travel, behavioral strategies can prevent it from starting. The CDC recommends sitting in the front seat of a car, choosing a window seat on planes and trains, and looking at the horizon rather than reading or staring at a screen. Your brain gets confused when your inner ear detects motion but your eyes see something stationary (like a book). Fixing your gaze on a distant, stable point resolves that conflict.
Lying down with your eyes closed or sleeping can also help, since it removes the visual mismatch entirely. Eat small amounts before and during travel rather than one large meal. Listening to music provides a mild distraction that keeps your brain from fixating on the motion signals. Ginger candy does double duty here, combining the anti-nausea properties of ginger with something pleasant to focus on.
Quick Physical Strategies
A few simple body-based techniques can reduce nausea in the moment. Controlled breathing is one of the most underrated: inhale slowly through your nose for four counts, hold briefly, then exhale through your mouth for four counts. This activates your body’s calming response and can interrupt the nausea reflex. Fresh, cool air on your face works similarly. Open a window or step outside if you can.
Avoid lying flat on your back, which can worsen nausea by allowing stomach acid to creep upward. If you need to rest, prop yourself up or lie on your left side. Loose clothing around your abdomen also helps, since pressure on your stomach can intensify the sensation.
Signs That Nausea Needs Medical Attention
Most nausea resolves within 24 to 48 hours. But certain combinations of symptoms signal something more serious. Nausea paired with sudden, severe abdominal pain may point to appendicitis, gallbladder problems, or a bowel obstruction, especially if the pain is worsening or accompanied by fever. Nausea with chest pain, pressure, or tightness that spreads to your arm, jaw, or back could indicate a cardiac event and warrants calling emergency services immediately.
Nausea following a head injury, particularly with confusion, dizziness, or loss of consciousness, needs emergency evaluation even if the initial injury seemed minor. And nausea with sudden weakness on one side of the body, facial drooping, or slurred speech are classic stroke warning signs. If nausea persists for more than a few days without an obvious cause, or if you can’t keep any fluids down for more than 12 hours, that also warrants a call to your doctor, since prolonged dehydration creates its own set of problems.