Several simple strategies can help relieve dizziness and nausea, from pressing a specific point on your wrist to staying hydrated with electrolytes. The right approach depends on what’s triggering your symptoms, but most people find relief through a combination of quick physical techniques, dietary changes, and targeted exercises that retrain the brain’s balance system.
Acupressure on the Wrist
One of the fastest things you can try is pressing firmly on a point called P6, located on the inside of your wrist. To find it, place three fingers flat across the inside of your wrist, starting just below the crease where your hand meets your arm. The point sits in the groove between the two large tendons that run down toward your palm, right below where your three fingers end. Press firmly with your thumb for a few minutes. It shouldn’t hurt. This technique has a long track record for easing mild nausea, including morning sickness and motion-related queasiness.
Ginger for Nausea
Ginger is one of the most studied natural remedies for nausea. Clinical trials on motion sickness have used ginger extract tablets containing around 160 mg of dry ginger rhizome (with 8 mg of the active compounds called gingerols), taken about 15 minutes before the nausea-triggering activity. You don’t need to buy extract tablets specifically. Ginger tea, ginger chews, and even ginger ale with real ginger can help settle your stomach, though concentrated forms tend to work faster.
Hydration and Electrolytes
Dehydration is one of the most overlooked causes of dizziness. When your body is low on fluids, blood pressure drops, and your brain gets less blood flow, especially when you stand up quickly. Plain water helps, but if you’ve been sweating, vomiting, or simply not drinking enough, your body also needs key minerals: sodium (which controls fluid balance), potassium (which supports nerve and muscle function), and magnesium (which aids nerve signaling). Electrolyte drinks or oral rehydration solutions replace both fluid and minerals at the same time. Even mild dehydration can make you feel lightheaded and queasy, so this is worth trying before anything else.
Dietary Changes That Reduce Symptoms
What you eat and drink can directly affect how often dizziness and nausea flare up, particularly if your symptoms stem from inner ear problems. For conditions like Meniere’s disease, where excess fluid builds up in the inner ear, reducing sodium intake to around 1,000 to 1,500 mg per day (roughly half to three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt) helps lower that fluid pressure. For reference, most people consume well over 3,000 mg daily without realizing it.
Caffeine and alcohol both worsen dizziness for many people. Caffeine constricts blood vessels and can interfere with inner ear circulation, while alcohol changes the fluid balance in the ear and impairs the brain’s ability to process balance signals. Foods containing MSG are also worth avoiding if you notice a pattern of symptoms after eating processed or restaurant food.
The Epley Maneuver for Positional Vertigo
If your dizziness hits in short, intense bursts when you change head position (rolling over in bed, looking up, or bending down) you likely have BPPV, the most common cause of vertigo. It happens when tiny calcium crystals in your inner ear drift into the wrong canal and send false motion signals to your brain.
The fix is a series of specific head movements called the Epley maneuver, which guides those crystals back where they belong. A healthcare provider turns your head 45 degrees toward the affected ear, then guides you to lie back quickly with your head slightly off the edge of the table. You hold each position for about 20 to 30 seconds before moving to the next. The whole procedure takes just a few minutes and often works after three repetitions. Many people feel dramatically better after a single session, though the vertigo can occasionally return weeks or months later and require a repeat.
Vestibular Exercises That Retrain Your Brain
When dizziness persists because of an inner ear injury or ongoing balance disorder, specific exercises can teach your brain to compensate. These vestibular rehabilitation exercises work by repeatedly exposing your brain to the confusing signals it’s receiving, forcing it to gradually reinterpret them correctly.
Gaze stabilization is one core technique. You focus on a target (like a letter on a card) while turning your head side to side, keeping the target in sharp focus the whole time. Start with small, slow movements and increase speed as your brain adapts. The target should never appear blurry or seem to jump around.
Balance exercises are the other pillar. A simple version: sit on the side of your bed, then quickly lie down to your left side while swinging your feet onto the bed. Stay there for 30 seconds or until the dizziness fades, then repeat three times. Do the same on your right side. These exercises should be performed at least three times a day for a minimum of 6 to 12 weeks. Progress feels slow at first, but the brain’s ability to adapt is remarkable when given consistent stimulation.
Over-the-Counter Medication
Meclizine is the most widely available OTC option for both dizziness and nausea. For motion sickness, the standard adult dose is 25 to 50 mg taken one hour before travel, with an additional dose allowed once every 24 hours. For ongoing vertigo, doses range from 25 to 100 mg per day split across multiple doses. Meclizine works by blocking signals between the inner ear and the brain’s vomiting center, which is why it tackles both the spinning sensation and the nausea at once. It can cause drowsiness, so avoid driving until you know how it affects you.
Common Causes Worth Knowing
Understanding the source of your symptoms helps you pick the right remedy. BPPV causes brief, intense spinning triggered by head movements and responds best to the Epley maneuver. Vestibular migraines produce vertigo episodes lasting minutes to hours, sometimes without any headache at all, and often come with sensitivity to light and noise. Meniere’s disease involves sudden vertigo lasting hours, fluctuating hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and a feeling of fullness or pressure. Motion sickness and medication side effects are also frequent culprits.
In rare cases, dizziness and nausea signal something more serious. Sudden dizziness paired with loss of coordination, trouble walking, double vision, slurred speech, or confusion can indicate a stroke. These symptoms appearing together and suddenly warrant an immediate call to 911.