If you feel like you’re about to throw up, the fastest things you can do right now are sit upright, breathe slowly through your nose, and sip a small amount of cool water. Most nausea passes on its own within minutes to hours, but there are several techniques that can speed up relief and keep you comfortable while it does.
What to Do Right Now
Sit up or prop yourself up at a slight recline, roughly 45 degrees, like you would in a recliner. Lying flat allows stomach contents to press upward against your diaphragm, which makes nausea worse. When you’re upright, gravity pulls your abdominal organs downward, reducing pressure on the stomach and easing that “about to vomit” sensation. If you’re in bed, stack pillows behind you so your upper body stays elevated.
Open a window or step outside if you can. Fresh, cool air on your face helps calm the nausea reflex. Stuffy rooms, strong food smells, and perfumes all make nausea worse because your brain is already on high alert for anything your body interprets as a potential toxin. Breathing slowly and deliberately through your nose (not your mouth) also helps regulate the signals your brain is sending to your stomach.
The Alcohol Pad Trick
One of the most effective and underrated nausea remedies is simply sniffing a rubbing alcohol pad. In emergency room studies, patients who inhaled from an isopropyl alcohol pad held about an inch below their nose saw their nausea scores drop by more than half within minutes. The effect peaks around four minutes after you start inhaling. In one trial, this technique actually outperformed a standard prescription anti-nausea medication at the 30-minute mark.
If you have rubbing alcohol pads in a first aid kit, tear one open and take slow, deep breaths through your nose near the pad. You can use multiple pads if the relief fades. The effect is short-lasting, so think of this as a tool for getting through the worst wave of nausea rather than a long-term fix.
Acupressure on Your Inner Wrist
There’s a pressure point on the inside of your wrist, about two finger-widths below the crease where your hand meets your arm, right between the two tendons you can feel running down the center. Press firmly on that spot with your thumb and hold for two to three minutes. You can do this on one wrist or both. This is the same point targeted by anti-nausea wristbands sold in pharmacies, which apply continuous pressure using a small plastic bead. It won’t work for everyone, but it’s free, has no side effects, and you can do it anywhere.
How to Sip Fluids Without Making It Worse
Drinking too much too fast when you’re nauseous will almost certainly make you vomit. The key is starting incredibly small: about a teaspoon (5 mL) every five minutes. That’s barely a sip. If you keep that down for 15 to 20 minutes, gradually increase the amount. Cool water is fine. So are flat ginger ale, diluted juice, or an oral rehydration drink. Avoid anything carbonated, very sweet, or acidic until your stomach settles.
Ginger in any form, whether it’s ginger tea, ginger chews, or even ginger snaps, has a long track record for calming nausea. The evidence is strongest for pregnancy-related and post-surgical nausea, but many people find it helpful for general queasiness too. If you have fresh ginger, slice a few thin pieces into hot water and sip it slowly.
What to Eat (and What to Skip)
You’ve probably heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s a reasonable starting point for a day or two, but there’s no need to limit yourself to just those four foods. Anything bland and easy to digest works: plain crackers, oatmeal, brothy soups, boiled potatoes, or unsweetened dry cereal. The goal is to give your stomach something gentle to work with without triggering another wave of nausea.
Once you can keep bland foods down, start adding things with more nutritional value. Cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, avocado, skinless chicken, fish, and eggs are all easy on the stomach while giving your body protein and nutrients it needs to recover. Avoid greasy, fried, or heavily spiced foods until you’ve been feeling normal for at least several hours.
Over-the-Counter Options
If the nausea isn’t passing on its own, a few types of pharmacy medications can help. Antihistamine-based anti-nausea drugs (the active ingredient in Dramamine, for example) work by blocking some of the chemical signals that trigger the vomiting reflex. Bismuth subsalicylate, the pink liquid sold as Pepto-Bismol, can soothe an irritated stomach lining and is particularly helpful when nausea comes with indigestion or mild food-related upset.
If you’re pregnant, talk to your provider before taking any over-the-counter anti-nausea medication. Some are considered safe in pregnancy, but the choice depends on your specific situation.
Common Causes Worth Knowing
Nausea isn’t a disease. It’s your body’s alarm system responding to something it doesn’t like. The most common everyday triggers include eating too much or too fast, motion sickness, anxiety or stress, dehydration, hangovers, food poisoning, and viral stomach bugs. Hormonal changes during pregnancy or menstruation also commonly cause nausea, as do migraines. Knowing the cause helps you decide how aggressively to treat it. Food poisoning nausea, for instance, often resolves fastest if you just let yourself vomit rather than fighting it.
Signs That Need Medical Attention
Most nausea resolves on its own, but certain combinations of symptoms point to something more serious. Get to an emergency room if your nausea comes with chest pain, severe abdominal cramping, confusion, blurred vision, or a high fever with a stiff neck. Vomit that contains blood, looks like dark coffee grounds, or appears green also warrants immediate evaluation.
Watch for signs of dehydration if you’ve been vomiting repeatedly: excessive thirst, dark urine, urinating much less than usual, dry mouth, or feeling dizzy when you stand up. These mean your body is losing more fluid than you’re replacing, and you may need medical help to rehydrate. Nausea and vomiting that last more than 24 hours in adults, or that follow a head injury, should also be evaluated promptly.