Nausea plagues everyone from time to time. Reaching for peppermint or ginger may be all you need to get relief.

1. Nausea plagues everyone from time to time.
Reaching for peppermint or ginger may be all you
need to get relief.
Boris Kaulin
You don't necessarily need to go to the pharmacy
to find nausea relief.
Try ginger tea or candy to ease nausea, especially
during pregnancy.
You can also sniff peppermint or lemon essential
oil for similar relief.
Natural nausea remedies appear to be safe for
people who are pregnant or are nauseated after
surgery or chemotherapy.
Everyone experiences nausea at one point or
another. Whether yours is related to pregnancy,
acid reflux, or cancer treatment, natural remedies
may provide some relief. Stocking your pantry with
natural treatments for nausea can help you get
through your discomfort.
Nausea arises in a variety of situations, and
understanding the cause is important for deciding
the most appropriate treatment. For example,
pregnancy-related nausea requires a different

2. response than nausea brought on by cancer
treatment.
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Pregnancy is a mostcrucial time for natural
treatments. Especially in early pregnancy, when
you want to avoid taking medications as much as
possible, nausea can be draining. Natural remedies
to the rescue! Most home remedies will work
during this stage. Every woman’s response is
different, so it may take some experimenting to
find out which natural treatment provides the
greatest nausea relief. Make sure to talk with your
doctor before taking any natural products when
pregnant.
1. Ginger
While research goes back and forth on the extent
of its effectiveness as a natural remedy, ginger has
a long history of being used to treat nausea,
stomachaches, and diarrhea. The Chinese have
used ginger to treat a variety of digestive and pain
issues for more than 2,000 years, according to the
University of Maryland Medical Center. It’s unclear
exactly how ginger works to ease nausea, but it’s

3. thought that active components, such as gingerol,
directly affect the digestive and central nervous
systems.
"[It's] an excellent treatment for nausea, especially
in pregnancy,” says Lauren Richter, DO, assistant
professor of family and community medicine at
the Center for Integrative Medicine at the
University of Maryland School of Medicine in
Baltimore. Research indicates that short-term use
of ginger is safe and relieves nausea symptoms
during pregnancy, according to the National
Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
(NCCIH).
More research is needed to gain a clear
understanding of what ginger can and cannot do,
but studies suggest it is an effective treatment for
post-operative and chemotherapy-related nausea,
as well. A 2012 study published in Integrative
Cancer Therapies found that, out of a group of 100
women with advanced breast cancer, those who
took ginger following chemotherapy experienced
significantly less nausea in the first six to 24 hours
post-treatment than those in the control group.
There are many ways to get your ginger: Dr.
Richter recommends using raw ginger in cooking,

4. drinking it in tea, or eating candied ginger.
“Dissolve it in the mouth like a mint,” she says.
2. Peppermint
Speaking of mint, peppermint is another
traditional remedy that’s been around for a long
time. Both peppermint leaves and peppermint oil
are helpful in dealing with indigestion and irritable
bowel syndrome, according to the NCCIH.
“Peppermint is also wonderful for nausea,” says
Richter. Thanks to its calming and numbing effect,
peppermint relaxes your stomachmuscles so that
bile can break down fats and food can move
through the stomach quickly, according to the
University of Maryland Medical Center. That said,
if you have gastroesophagealreflux disease
(GERD), you should not use peppermint.
Peppermint comes in many forms and treatments,
including ointments for skin irritation. Some
studies even suggestthat the scent of peppermint
oil could ease nausea.
Peppermint tea is probably the most common way
to take this remedy, but it is also available in
capsule form or as an essential oil. “This is also
very safe in pregnancy,” adds Richter.

5. 3. Acupuncture and Acupressure
Eastern practitioners have been manipulating
pressure points throughout the body to address
physical symptoms, including nausea, for
thousands of years, according to the NCCIH. One
version of this approach, acupuncture, involves
inserting long, thin needles into the skin. Although
there are many hypotheses for exactly how
acupuncture works, many scientists believe the
needles stimulate certain nerves in the body,
which then send signals to the brain to release
hormones that reduce feelings of pain and nausea.
When researchers compared acupuncture with
medications to control nausea in cancer patients,
they found that acupuncture was at least as
effective. Acupuncture also reduced the need for
anti-vomiting medications after chemotherapy in a
2015 study published in Gynecologic Oncology.
Acupressure is similar approach — instead of
needles, physical pressure is applied to certain
points of the body — that can be performed at
home or by a massagetherapist. A small 2015
study published in Complementary Therapies in
Medicine found that acupressure to the wrist
significantly reduced nausea and vomiting in
cardiac surgery patients.

6. Both acupuncture and acupressure can help ease
nausea caused by pregnancy, cancer, acid reflux,
and other situations. “Again, these therapies are
particularly useful in pregnancy, where drug
interactions are critical and mostdrugs are to be
avoided,” Richter notes. “There are good
reference books out on the market to instruct
people on how to do acupressure at home on their
own.” But if you do decide to pursue acupuncture,
make sure your acupuncturist is a licensed
professional, she advises.
4. Aromatherapy
Controlling the scents in your environment is
another way to ease nausea. Aromatherapy
involves removing scents that may be contributing
to your nausea and adding scents that can provide
relief, such as peppermint oil or lemon. In a 2013
study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia, surgical
patients were asked to smell one of three
aromatherapy treatments: essential oil of ginger, a
blend of ginger, spearmint, peppermint, and
cardamom essential oils, or isopropyl alcohol. The
researchers found that patients who smelled
either the ginger oil or the blend of oils had
significantly reduced nausea compared with the
patients who smelled isopropyl alcohol.

7. “You can place a drop or two on a tissue and
inhale the scent when you feel nauseated or put it
in an essential oil diffuser,” Richter says. These
essential oils can also be used in massagetherapy;
however, some people can have a slight allergic
reaction to essential oils placed directly on their
skin, according to the NCCIH. You should always
use a neutral oil, such as mineral oil, to dilute
essential oils before putting them on your skin.
Last Updated: 6/11/2015