You know that feeling of queasiness when you’re on the verge of throwing up but not quite sure you have to? Yeah, it’s not fun.
Feeling nauseous happens to all of us occasionally, some more than others.
When you’re feeling sick to your stomach, the cause could be physical or mental. Stress and anxiety show up as nauseousness. A lot of health conditions have symptoms in your stomach, too.
How you get rid of your nausea has a lot to do with the cause. However, there are a few ways that work well in general. They won’t fix the problem, but they can cover up the nauseousness.
1. Ginger
For Gen X’ers, part of being sick as a child meant chicken noodle soup, crackers, and ginger ale. It didn’t matter what the ailment was; those three things (plus some Vicks Vaporub) were the cure.
While we’re not quite sure how canned chicken noodle soup helped, the ginger ale is a must-have as a stomach cure. The main active ingredient is ginger, the most common natural cure for nausea.
Consuming ginger in recommended doses is a safe way to get rid of nausea after chemo, during pregnancy, and for occasional random episodes. Be careful how much you ingest if you’re on a blood thinner, pregnant, or have low blood sugar.
Make a tea out of ginger root, drink ginger ale, or add your dose to a meal. Ginger capsules are also effective.
2. Aromatherapy
By now, you’ve heard that essential oils are a cure for all that ails you. It’s a blanket statement that comes from the fact that out of hundreds of oils, there’s bound to be one that helps with what you need. For nausea, the go-to is peppermint oil.
Studies show that people in multiple situations with nausea as a side effect recovered faster when inhaling the smell of peppermint oil.
However, you can get similar effects from peppermint tea, eating peppermint candy, or chewing the same kind of gum.
3. CBD Oil
Cannabidiol, better known as CBD, is so effective at reducing nausea, they’re used in patients after chemo to reduce the symptoms. The American Cancer Society has added cannabinoids to its list of ways to help manage nausea at home.
With a full-spectrum CBD product, the user gets all the cannabinoids from the cannabis plant extract. As long as it’s good quality, you’ll have high levels of CBD and hardly any THC.
The CBD interacts with your serotonin receptors, increasing the happy hormone and making you feel better overall.
The stigma of cannabis might make you hesitant to try CBD for your stomach issues. If so, you’ll feel better knowing that as long as your product is made from hemp, it’s totally legal in all 50 states.
Hemp was removed from the Schedule IV drug list and is now unregulated in the cannabis industry. It’s so safe, lots of children and pets are on hemp-derived CBD products.
5. Try Deep Breathing
How we breathe tells the brain what it should be doing. Fast breathing puts our minds and bodies on alert that there’s danger somewhere.
When you’re feeling nauseous, your breathing turns erratic. Take control and practice mindful breathing.
It’s a method that’s been used for thousands of years to help women get through the pain of childbirth. Controlling your breath calms your body.
Try a breathing pattern of inhaling through your nose as you count to three, then holding your breath for another three-count. Exhale slowly, again counting to three. Repeat this pattern until you feel the nauseousness fade away.
6. Hydrate Yourself
When was the last time you drank enough water?
Millions of people walk around dehydrated without even realizing it. Our bodies need between 11 and 16 cups of water every day just to keep the balance in each system. When you aren’t getting enough fluids, it can show up as nausea.
Drinking soda, tea, coffee, and other beverages don’t count toward hydration. Many of these drinks have ingredients that cause your body to work harder to process the toxins and preservatives and flush them out.
To get and stay hydrated, stick with water. If you have to add natural flavoring, use lemons, limes, and oranges. You can drink mineral water, sports drinks with electrolytes, and broths if your dehydration comes from vomiting.
Conclusion
Nauseousness is a general sign your body uses to tell you there’s a problem somewhere. If you can pinpoint the problem, it’s easier to find a cure to get rid of your nausea.
Until you know the reason, though, you’ll be happy if you could just stop feeling sick to your stomach. Try one or all of these six solutions that tend to work for most general nausea maladies.
