Several things can help with nausea, from ginger and peppermint to pressure point techniques, small sips of fluid, and over-the-counter medications. The best approach depends on what’s causing your nausea, but most people find relief by combining two or three simple strategies rather than relying on one alone.
Nausea involves a surprisingly complex chain reaction in your body. Your brain has a specialized area called the area postrema that sits outside the normal blood-brain barrier, giving it direct access to your bloodstream. When it detects something wrong, whether that’s a toxin you swallowed, a hormone shift, or conflicting motion signals from your inner ear, it triggers the nausea response. Your gut also plays a major role: nerve endings in your digestive tract release chemical messengers like serotonin and histamine that travel up the vagus nerve to your brain. Understanding these pathways helps explain why so many different remedies work, since they each interrupt the signal at a different point.
Ginger
Ginger is one of the most studied natural remedies for nausea, and the evidence is solid. In clinical trials, doses of 1,000 to 2,000 mg of ginger powder reduced nausea caused by motion sickness by calming abnormal stomach contractions and lowering levels of a hormone (vasopressin) that rises when you feel nauseated. That 1,000 mg dose is roughly half a teaspoon of powdered ginger or a thumb-sized piece of fresh root.
You can get ginger through capsules, ginger chews, freshly grated ginger steeped in hot water, or even flat ginger ale that still has real ginger in the ingredients. If you’re using it for motion sickness or a predictable trigger, take it about 30 minutes beforehand. For ongoing nausea, sipping ginger tea throughout the day tends to work better than one large dose.
Peppermint Aromatherapy
Inhaling peppermint essential oil is a fast-acting option that works through two routes. The active compounds, menthol and menthone, relax the smooth muscles of your digestive tract, reducing spasms. Peppermint also blocks serotonin receptors in the gut that trigger the nausea reflex.
A large review of clinical studies found peppermint inhalation reduced nausea scores across several very different populations. Post-surgical patients saw measurable improvement within two to six hours. Pregnant women who used daily peppermint treatment reported lower symptom severity by 48 hours, with continued improvement through 96 hours. Chemotherapy patients showed the most dramatic drops in nausea scores at the 48- and 72-hour marks. You don’t need a diffuser: placing a drop of peppermint oil on a cotton ball and holding it a few inches from your nose, or rubbing a small amount between your palms and cupping them over your face, is enough.
The P6 Pressure Point
Acupressure at a spot called P6, or Nei Guan, is a drug-free technique you can use anywhere. The point sits on the inside of your forearm, about two finger-widths above the crease of your wrist, between the two tendons you can feel when you flex your hand toward you. Press firmly with your thumb for one to three minutes, or alternate wrists.
This is the same principle behind anti-nausea wristbands sold in pharmacies. The bands use a small plastic button to maintain steady pressure on P6. Clinical trials in people with severe pregnancy-related nausea found significant reductions in both nausea intensity and vomiting frequency compared to placebo wristbands. It won’t eliminate severe nausea on its own, but it stacks well with other approaches and has no side effects.
What to Eat and Drink
When you’re nauseated, the thought of food can make things worse, but an empty stomach often prolongs the problem. The key is small, frequent portions of bland foods rather than full meals. Good options include saltine crackers, plain oatmeal, boiled potatoes, brothy soups, dry cereal, and toast. Once your stomach starts to settle, you can add slightly more substantial foods like scrambled eggs, skinless chicken, and cooked vegetables.
If you’re actively vomiting, skip solid food entirely and focus on liquids: small sips of water, ice chips, broth, diluted fruit juice, electrolyte drinks, or weak uncaffeinated tea. Popsicles work well because they force you to take in fluid slowly. Room-temperature or cool liquids tend to be easier to keep down than very hot or very cold ones.
Staying hydrated matters more than eating. Vomiting depletes sodium, potassium, and chloride. Oral rehydration solutions replace these in the right proportions. The World Health Organization’s formula contains glucose, sodium, potassium, chloride, and citrate in specific ratios designed to maximize absorption. Commercial electrolyte drinks approximate this, though many contain more sugar than ideal. If you’re making your own, aim for a lower-sugar version rather than loading up on juice.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Antihistamines and dopamine-blocking drugs are the most commonly used first-line nausea treatments. For motion sickness specifically, antihistamines that target your vestibular system (the balance center in your inner ear) tend to work best. These are the active ingredients in common drugstore motion-sickness tablets. They cause drowsiness, which is a drawback for daytime use but can be helpful if nausea is keeping you from sleeping.
For pregnancy-related nausea, a combination of vitamin B6 and an antihistamine called doxylamine is the standard recommendation. The typical starting regimen is two delayed-release tablets at bedtime, increasing gradually over several days if symptoms persist, up to a maximum of four tablets per day spread across morning, afternoon, and bedtime doses. This combination is available over the counter in some countries and by prescription in others.
Quick Lifestyle Adjustments
Several simple behavioral changes can make a noticeable difference, especially when nausea is mild or you’re waiting for another remedy to kick in:
- Fresh air and positioning. Sitting upright or reclining with your head elevated helps. Opening a window or stepping outside can interrupt the nausea signal, particularly if a smell is triggering it.
- Cold compresses. A cool, damp cloth on the back of your neck or forehead activates a mild calming response and can reduce the flush and sweating that accompany nausea.
- Slow, controlled breathing. Deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth at a slow pace help regulate the vagus nerve, the same nerve that carries nausea signals from your gut to your brain.
- Avoiding triggers. Strong odors, warm rooms, lying flat, and screens or reading in a moving vehicle all intensify nausea. Remove as many of these as possible while you’re symptomatic.
Warning Signs That Need Medical Attention
Most nausea passes on its own or responds to the strategies above. But certain combinations of symptoms point to something more serious. Seek prompt medical care if your nausea comes with chest pain, severe abdominal cramping, blurred vision, confusion, high fever with a stiff neck, or rectal bleeding.
Go to an emergency room if your vomit contains blood, looks like coffee grounds, or is green. The same applies if you’re showing signs of significant dehydration: very dark urine, dizziness when standing, dry mouth, or extreme thirst. A sudden, severe headache alongside vomiting, especially one unlike any headache you’ve had before, also warrants urgent evaluation.