Several remedies can relieve nausea quickly, depending on what’s causing it. Ginger, cold fluids in small sips, pressure point stimulation, and over-the-counter antihistamines all have solid evidence behind them. The best choice depends on whether your nausea is from motion sickness, a stomach bug, pregnancy, or something else entirely.
Ginger: The Best-Studied Natural Remedy
Ginger is one of the most reliable natural options for nausea. In clinical studies, doses of 1,000 to 2,000 mg taken before exposure to motion significantly reduced nausea compared to placebo. It works by stabilizing the electrical rhythm of your stomach and lowering levels of a hormone (vasopressin) that spikes when you feel nauseated. When those stomach contractions stay regular instead of going haywire, the queasy feeling fades.
You can get ginger through capsules, ginger chews, or freshly grated ginger steeped in hot water. Ginger ale is a popular choice, but most commercial brands contain very little actual ginger. If you’re buying capsules, aim for around 1,000 mg total. For fresh ginger tea, a thumb-sized piece steeped for 10 minutes is a reasonable dose. It’s most effective when taken before nausea peaks, so if you know a trigger is coming (a car ride, a boat trip), take it early.
The Alcohol Swab Trick
One of the fastest-acting nausea remedies costs almost nothing: sniffing a standard rubbing alcohol prep pad. Hold the pad about an inch below your nose and inhale deeply, repeating as needed. Research from emergency departments found this technique reaches peak effect within four minutes. Patients who used it saw their nausea scores drop from about 50 out of 100 down to 20, which was actually a bigger drop than the group that received a standard prescription anti-nausea medication intravenously. You can use multiple pads in a row for continued relief, though the effect is short-lived.
This is particularly useful when nausea hits suddenly and you don’t have anything else on hand. Alcohol prep pads are sold at any pharmacy, and keeping a few in your bag or car costs next to nothing.
Pressure Points That Calm Nausea
The P6 acupressure point, located on the inside of your forearm about three finger-widths above your wrist crease, sits in the groove between the two tendons. Pressing firmly on this spot for several minutes at a time can reduce nausea severity. In a controlled trial, patients who received real acupressure at this point had significantly less nausea, vomiting, and retching at two, four, and six hours compared to those who got a sham treatment. They also needed fewer anti-nausea medications over the following 24 hours.
You can press the point with your thumb, or buy a wristband designed for this purpose (often sold as “sea bands” for motion sickness). The bands apply constant pressure so you don’t have to think about it.
What to Eat and Drink When Nauseated
The old advice to eat only bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast (the BRAT diet) is no longer recommended as a strict protocol. It’s too low in protein, calcium, vitamin B12, and fiber to help your gut recover, and following it for more than a day or two can actually slow healing. The better approach: eat bland, soft foods you can tolerate, chosen from a wider menu.
Good options include brothy soups, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, saltine crackers, dry cereal, scrambled eggs, and skinless chicken or turkey. Start with whatever appeals to you from that list. As your stomach settles, add in cooked vegetables and other soft foods. The key is not restricting yourself to four specific items but keeping things mild and easy to digest.
Hydration matters more than food when you’re vomiting. Take small sips frequently rather than gulping a full glass, which can trigger more vomiting. If you’ve been vomiting repeatedly, plain water isn’t ideal because you’re losing salt and sugar along with fluid. The World Health Organization’s oral rehydration recipe is simple: mix half a teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of sugar into about four and a quarter cups of water. This ratio helps your intestines absorb the fluid more efficiently than water alone. Store-bought electrolyte drinks work too.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Antihistamines are the most widely available OTC option for nausea. Meclizine and diphenhydramine both block signals in the brain that trigger the vomiting reflex. Meclizine is specifically marketed for motion sickness and vertigo-related nausea. Diphenhydramine (the active ingredient in Benadryl) is a broader option. Both cause drowsiness, which is worth knowing if you need to stay alert but can actually be a benefit at bedtime.
For motion sickness specifically, these medications work best when taken before you start moving. Meclizine is typically taken at least two hours before travel. Once nausea is already in full swing, oral medications are harder to keep down and slower to absorb.
Bismuth subsalicylate (the pink liquid in Pepto-Bismol) targets nausea tied to stomach irritation, indigestion, or mild food-related illness. It coats the stomach lining and reduces inflammation. It won’t do much for motion sickness but can help when the problem originates in your digestive tract.
Nausea During Pregnancy
Morning sickness affects up to 80% of pregnancies, and it often lasts well beyond the morning. The first-line treatment is vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), sometimes combined with doxylamine, an antihistamine found in some OTC sleep aids. This combination is the active ingredient in the prescription product Diclegis.
The typical starting approach is two delayed-release tablets at bedtime. If nausea persists the next afternoon, a morning dose gets added. If it’s still not controlled, a mid-afternoon dose brings the total to four tablets per day. An extended-release version uses a simpler schedule of one tablet at bedtime, increasing to one in the morning and one at bedtime if needed, with a maximum of two per day. Many people find that B6 alone (sold as a standalone supplement) provides enough relief without the antihistamine component.
Ginger and acupressure wristbands are also commonly used during pregnancy and are generally considered safe. Small, frequent meals and keeping crackers by the bed to eat before standing up in the morning are simple strategies that reduce the empty-stomach trigger.
Motion Sickness Prevention
If your nausea is triggered by cars, boats, or planes, prevention is far easier than treatment after symptoms start. Scopolamine patches, available by prescription, are applied behind the ear at least 12 hours before travel and provide continuous medication for up to three days. Meclizine, available over the counter, needs only about two hours of lead time but has to be re-dosed for longer trips.
Non-medication strategies help too. Sitting in the front seat of a car or over the wing of a plane reduces the mismatch between what your eyes see and what your inner ear senses. Focusing on a fixed point on the horizon, keeping a window cracked for fresh air, and avoiding reading or screens all reduce the sensory conflict that causes motion sickness. Combining ginger or acupressure with these behavioral strategies can be enough to skip medication entirely for mild cases.