If you’re feeling nauseous right now, start with slow, deep breaths and small sips of cool water. Most nausea passes on its own, but there are several techniques that can speed up relief or prevent it from getting worse. What works best depends on what’s causing it, whether that’s motion sickness, a stomach bug, anxiety, or something you ate.
Try Deep Breathing First
Deep, controlled breathing is one of the fastest ways to ease nausea because it activates your vagus nerve, a long nerve running from your brain to your gut that helps regulate digestion and calm your body’s stress response. When you’re nauseous, your body is often in a heightened alert state: shallow breathing, faster heart rate, tense muscles. Slow breathing reverses that cycle.
Here’s a simple pattern you can do anywhere: inhale deeply through your nose, drawing air into your belly (not just your chest), and hold for about five seconds. Then exhale slowly through your mouth. Repeat this rhythmically for two to three minutes. Many people notice the queasy feeling start to fade within the first few cycles. If anxiety or stress is driving your nausea, this technique is especially effective.
Apply Pressure to the P6 Point on Your Wrist
Acupressure at a spot called P6, located on the inside of your wrist, is a well-known nausea remedy used in hospitals and recommended by cancer treatment centers like Memorial Sloan Kettering. To find it, hold three fingers across the inside of your opposite wrist, starting at the crease where your hand meets your arm. The point sits just below where your index finger lands, between the two tendons running up your forearm.
Press firmly with your thumb and hold for two to three minutes. You can repeat on the other wrist. This is the same principle behind anti-nausea wristbands sold in pharmacies, which apply constant pressure to this spot. It works for motion sickness, morning sickness, and post-surgical nausea alike.
Sniff Rubbing Alcohol
This one sounds odd, but inhaling isopropyl alcohol (a standard rubbing alcohol prep pad) is surprisingly effective. A 2023 systematic review of clinical trials found that sniffing an alcohol prep pad lowered nausea faster than traditional anti-nausea medications, with significant relief at the 30-minute mark. Conventional anti-nausea drugs tend to have a delayed onset and side effects like drowsiness, headaches, or dizziness. An alcohol pad has none of those issues.
To try it, tear open a standard alcohol prep pad (the kind found in any first aid kit) and hold it a few inches from your nose. Take slow, gentle sniffs. You’re not trying to deeply inhale the fumes, just catch the scent. If you don’t have prep pads handy, some people get similar relief from peppermint oil or even a slice of lemon held near the nose, though the clinical evidence is strongest for isopropyl alcohol.
Sip Fluids in Small Amounts
When you’re nauseous, gulping a full glass of water can make things worse. The key is small, frequent sips rather than large volumes. Aim for about one ounce (roughly two tablespoons) per hour at minimum, taken in tiny amounts every few minutes. Cool or room-temperature water works well. Some people find flat ginger ale, diluted broth, or an oral rehydration drink easier to keep down.
Avoid very sugary, carbonated, or acidic drinks, which can irritate your stomach further. If you’ve been vomiting, replacing lost electrolytes matters more than just drinking plain water, so an electrolyte solution or broth is a better choice. Sucking on ice chips is another way to get fluids in without overwhelming your stomach.
Use Ginger, but Get the Dose Right
Ginger has genuine anti-nausea properties backed by clinical research. The effective threshold appears to be around 1 gram per day (about half a teaspoon of powdered ginger), taken for at least three to four days for the best results. At that dose, one systematic review found it reduced vomiting by about 70% compared to a placebo.
You can get ginger through capsules, ginger tea made from fresh slices, or powdered ginger mixed into food. Ginger candies and commercial ginger ales vary widely in how much actual ginger they contain, so they’re less reliable. If you’re buying capsules, check the label for the total ginger content per dose. For quick relief from a single wave of nausea, steep a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger in hot water for five to ten minutes and sip it slowly.
Eat Bland, Easy Foods When You’re Ready
You may have heard of the BRAT diet: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It’s fine for a day or two, but Harvard Health notes there’s no research showing it’s better than simply eating any bland, easy-to-digest foods. A broader selection actually helps you recover faster because you’re getting more nutrients.
Good options beyond BRAT include brothy soups, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, crackers, and unsweetened dry cereal. Once your stomach settles, add cooked vegetables like carrots or squash, skinless chicken or turkey, fish, eggs, and avocado. These provide the protein and nutrients your body needs to bounce back. The main things to avoid while you’re still queasy: greasy, spicy, or heavily seasoned food, dairy, and anything with a strong smell.
Prevent Motion Sickness Before It Starts
If your nausea is triggered by cars, boats, or planes, the root cause is a mismatch between what your eyes see and what your inner ear senses. Your brain interprets this conflict as a sign something is wrong, and nausea is the result.
Looking at the horizon is the single most effective free remedy. A visible horizon gives your visual system a stable reference point that matches the motion your inner ear is detecting, reducing the sensory conflict. In a car, sit in the front seat and look out the windshield rather than at your phone. On a boat, go up to the deck and watch the horizon line. Avoid reading or scrolling, which locks your eyes on a stationary object while your body is moving.
Over-the-counter antihistamines designed for motion sickness work by dulling your inner ear’s motion signals and blocking the messages that trigger nausea in your brain. They’re most effective when taken 30 to 60 minutes before travel, not after symptoms have already started. Drowsiness is the main side effect.
Try a Cold Compress or Cool Air
Cold stimulation activates your vagus nerve in a similar way to deep breathing. Place a cold pack or a cool, damp cloth on the back of your neck or across your forehead. Some people find that splashing cold water on their face provides quick relief. Opening a window for fresh, cool air can also help, especially if you’re in a warm, stuffy, or odor-heavy environment that’s making the nausea worse.
Over-the-Counter Medications
If home remedies aren’t enough, two main types of OTC medications target nausea. Bismuth subsalicylate (the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol) works by coating and protecting the stomach lining. It’s best suited for nausea from stomach bugs, food poisoning, or general digestive upset. Antihistamine-based anti-nausea medications are better for motion sickness, as they specifically block the inner ear signals that cause it. Both types are widely available at any pharmacy.
Warning Signs That Need Medical Attention
Most nausea resolves within a few hours to a couple of days. But certain symptoms alongside nausea point to something more serious. Get emergency care if your nausea comes with chest pain, severe abdominal pain or cramping, blurred vision, confusion, high fever combined with a stiff neck, or rectal bleeding. These combinations can indicate conditions ranging from appendicitis to meningitis that require immediate treatment. Nausea and vomiting that persist for more than 48 hours, or that prevent you from keeping down any fluids at all, also warrant a call to your doctor to check for dehydration and underlying causes.