Nausea is a feeling of uneasiness or sickness in your stomach you may experience before vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are not diseases; they are symptoms a person may experience under different situations.
Motion sickness, early stages of pregnancy, food poisoning, surgery, emotional distress, overeating, reaction to certain odours, symptom of some other disease, etc. are all potential causes of nausea. There is no saying what may cause a person to be nauseous, as it varies from person to person.
There are anti-nausea medications you may use to get rid of it, but some natural remedies have also been found to be effective.
Natural remedies can come in handy, especially in cases of pregnancy-related nausea, as it's not advisable to consume a lot of medications at this time. However, you must consult your doctor before attempting either medications or natural remedies to cure your nausea.
Natural Remedies to Relieve Nausea
Here we shall look at eight natural remedies to relieve nausea:
1) Slice a Lemon or Orange
The fragrance of citrus fruits like lemons and oranges has proven to be an effective natural remedy that gets rid of nausea.
Even scratching a lemon peel can work, as that helps release its essential oils into the air. You may also keep a vial of lemon essential oil with you as a practical and handy option to relieve nausea.
2) Using Certain Spices
Spices are often used as home remedies to combat nausea. Although this is mostly based on anecdotal evidence, some spices have proved beneficial in relieving nausea.
- Fennel powder: It helps in reducing menstrual symptoms, including nausea, and may help women experience shorter periods.
- Cinnamon: It can alleviate the severity of nausea women experience during menstruation.
- Cumin extract: It has proven effective in relieving symptoms like abdominal pain, nausea, constipation and diarrhoea in individuals suffering from IBS.
These spices work to reduce nausea in some individuals, but more detailed studies are needed for strong conclusions to be drawn.
Studies that have been conducted used doses ranging from 180–420 mg per day, which are difficult to achieve through normal everyday usage of these spices.
3) Eating Ginger
Ginger is an extremely popular natural remedy recommended for nausea. Ginger toffies and lozenges are effective in relieving symptoms of sickness.
However, it is not understood how ginger works to relieve nausea. It is believed that compounds in ginger work in ways that are similar to anti-nausea medications. Ginger has proven effective in reducing pregnancy-induced nausea, chemotherapy treatment and surgery-related nausea.
Some researchers have even reported ginger to be as effective as prescription medications, with fewer negative side effects. Ginger is an extremely safe condiment for use by most people. However, people with low blood pressure, low blood sugar, or those taking blood thinners may want to avoid taking a lot of it regularly.
4) Taking Vitamin B6 Supplement
Vitamin B6 has gained popularity in recent years as an alternative treatment for pregnant women preferring to avoid anti-nausea medications.
Research has suggested that Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine has been successful in reducing nausea during pregnancy. Doses of vitamin B6 up to 200 mg per day are generally considered safe during pregnancy, having virtually no side effects.
5) Peppermint Aromatherapy
Peppermint aromatherapy is a great alternative that helps reduce nausea. Research has found this remedy to be effective in women who have just given birth by C-section.
Women who were exposed to a peppermint smell rated their level of nausea significantly lower than those who had been given anti-nausea medications or a placebo.
Sipping on a peppermint tea may have similar anti-nausea effects, although there haven't been many studies in this area.
Peppermint oil taken in pill form has shown mixed results, working for some but not for others. It's also not clear if it's completely safe to ingest peppermint oil. However, smelling peppermint oil is completely safe and can be adopted as an effective remedy to reduce nausea.
6) Staying Hydrated
Dehydration is a major cause for nausea. If your nausea is accompanied by vomiting, you need to replace your lost fluids with electrolyte-rich fluids, such as soups, juices, sports drinks or by taking an Oral Rehydration Solution. Staying hydrated can go a long way in reducing nausea.
7) Controlling Your Diet
Those who are prone to bouts of nausea i.e. pregnant women, recuperating patients, patients undergoing strenuous treatment, etc, must take special care of their diet. There are foods that can worsen nausea, and those that can help in relieving it. Some dietary tips to control nausea are:
- Avoid spicy and fatty foods: They tend to aggravate nausea. Instead, try to include blander foods like bananas, rice, applesauce, crackers or baked potatoes.
- Add more protein to your meals: Protein-rich meals can keep you fuller for longer and also fight off nausea better than meals high in fat or carbs.
- Avoid large meals: Go for smaller, more frequent meals rather than three heavy meals; you can also consume a fruit rich in vitamin C such as mango, when you’re feeling nauseated.,
- Don't lie down immediately after a meal: Try to stay upright after you eat. You may experience acid reflux or become nauseous if you lie down within 30 to 60 minutes following a meal.
- Avoid drinking liquids with meals: Drinking liquids just before, during or after a meal is likely to increase your feeling of fullness, which can worsen nausea.
8) Controlling Your Breathing
Controlling your breathing is another effective natural remedy to get rid of nausea.
Research indicates that breathing in slowly through the nose and exhaling through the mouth three times while undergoing aromatherapy is extremely effective in reducing nausea induced by surgery.
Controlled breathing along with aromatheraphy has proven beneficial in helping get rid of nauseous feelings and sickness.