4 Natural Remedies for Nausea Relief

Everyone experiences nausea at one point or another. Whether yours is related to pregnancy, acid reflux, or cancer treatment, some natural remedies such as ginger-infused tea, aromatherapy, and acupuncture may provide relief. But just as with over-the-counter medications, it’s important to check with your doctor to make sure any supplements or at-home remedies are safe and don’t interact with other medications you may be taking.

Nausea arises in a variety of situations, and understanding the cause is important for determining the most appropriate treatment. For example, nausea is frequently experienced in pregnancy, so some of these natural remedies may be particularly helpful, especially since you need to be very careful about the medications you take at this time. But whether or not pregnancy is the cause of your nausea, be sure to talk with your doctor about how to best treat it.

1. Ginger

Ginger has a long history of being used to treat nausea, stomachaches, and diarrhea. In China, for instance, it’s been used to treat a variety of digestive and pain issues for more than 2,000 years. It’s unclear exactly how ginger works to ease nausea, but it’s 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. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) indicates that ginger may be a safe way to relieve nausea symptoms during pregnancy.

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 study published in February 2012 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 6 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, drinking it in tea, or eating the candied form, which you can eat as you would mints.

2. Peppermint

Peppermint is another traditional remedy that’s been around for many years. Both its leaves and its oil are helpful in dealing with indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome, according to the NCCIH, and a small study published in February 2014 in the Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing suggests that the scent of peppermint oil can ease nausea.

“Peppermint is wonderful for nausea,” says Richter. Its calming and numbing effect relaxes your stomach muscles so that bile can break down fats, and food can move through the stomach quickly.

Peppermint tea is probably the most common way to take this remedy, but it is also available in capsule form for oral intake. You can use essential oil of peppermint for aromatherapy, but you should mix it with a carrier oil, which is a vegetable oil that helps dilute the essential oil, for safe application. A word of caution: If you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), you should avoid the mint.

3. Acupuncture and Acupressure

Eastern practitioners have been stimulating pressure points throughout the body to alleviate pain and illness for thousands of years. Acupuncture, which is one version of this approach, involves inserting long, thin needles into the skin. Although there are numerous hypotheses about the way acupuncture works, many scientists believe the needles stimulate certain nerves in the body, and those nerves then send signals to the brain to release hormones that reduce feelings of pain and nausea.

In a study that looked at controlling nausea in cancer patients, researchers found that acupuncture was at least as effective as medications. And a study published in January 2015 in Gynecologic Oncology found that acupuncture reduced the need for anti-vomiting medications after chemotherapy.

In acupressure, which can be performed at home or by a massage therapist, physical pressure is applied to certain points of the body. Some research suggests that it may be helpful for pregnant women and those undergoing chemotherapy. A small study, for instance, published in June 2015 in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found that acupressure to the wrist significantly reduced nausea and vomiting in cardiac surgery patients.

Both acupuncture and acupressure can help ease the nausea caused by cancer, acid reflux, and other conditions. “Again, these therapies are particularly useful in pregnancy, where most drugs are to be avoided,” Richter notes. If you do decide to pursue acupuncture, make sure your acupuncturist is a licensed professional, she advises.

4. Aromatherapy

Managing the scents in your environment is another way to ease nausea. Aromatherapy, which involves using scents like peppermint or lemon therapeutically for stress and anxiety, can help you do that. In a September 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.

“You can place a drop or two of essential oil on a tissue and inhale the scent when you feel nauseated, or put it in an essential oil diffuser,” Richter says. These oils can also be used in massage therapy — but, as mentioned above, you should always use a neutral oil, such as mineral oil, to dilute essential oils before putting them on your skin, because they can cause irritation or an allergic reaction.

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How Does Peppermint Relieve Nausea From Anxiety And Nervousness – Scentered

by James OakleyAug 04, 20210 comments

The night after having my second daughter, I experienced crippling stomach cramps and what did the medical team at Addenbrooke’s give to me? Peppermint oil! They’d concluded from my description that the culprit was constipation, and they gave it to me to…well, get things moving if you know what I mean.  

I’m sure it would have helped, but it soon transpired that I had appendicitis so a batch of antibiotics and an appendectomy later, things were resolved. But it did educate me that peppermint oil is used for more than chewing gum, food flavouring, shower gel or dental hygiene! 

Benefits of Peppermint Essential Oil

This hybrid mint, derived from watermint and spearmint, comes from an ancient line of medicinal and culinary products. Originally, cultivated in Europe, much of the world’s peppermint is grown in the states nowadays.

It’s certainly a multi-purpose herb that can be used in a multitude of ways. Benefits include: 

• Alleviates stomach-ache or stomach upset
• Soothes painful indigestion
• Clears the nasal passages
• Improves mental function
• Cools and soothes joint pain and aching muscles
• Reduces the symptoms of headache and nausea 

Peppermint Oil and Anxiety

It might seem a tenuous link but bear with me because peppermint oil can be a saviour when you have anxiety. That’s because anxiety comes in many forms, but one of the most common issues is the effect it has on the stomach. Butterflies, tight stomach, nausea, churning stomach and irritable bowel syndrome are all conditions that can be caused by anxiety and stress. All of which can be improved by peppermint essential oil. If you’ve ever suffered anxiety, you’ll also know about the mind fog that comes with feeling overwhelmed. Peppermint is also stimulating and promotes clarity of mind essential for refocusing and regaining control.

How to Relieve Nausea Naturally 

Peppermint oil is often taken in the form of a capsule, peppermint tea or skin preparation. It has a wonderfully refreshing taste and supports healthy digestive function when it’s taken orally. Though more research still needs to be carried out to fully understand the effect of peppermint, it’s thought that it relaxes the gastric muscles which stops them from cramping and over-contracting. 

When your stomach muscles are relaxed, bile can move freely and break down fats to ensure that food moves quickly through the stomach. This relieves the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, stomach-ache and stomach upset like abdominal pain, bloating and gas and the feeling of a churning stomach which can make you feel nauseous.

Inhaling peppermint oil when you feel sick or nauseous can relieve the symptoms quickly. Firstly the act of deep inhalation engages the parasympathetic system and focuses your mind on your breath, rather than on your queasy stomach. 

Scientists are still trying to determine exactly how peppermint oil helps nausea, but we do know that when aromatherapy products are inhaled, molecules within essential oils travel from the olfactory nerves directly to the brain and impact our limbic system.

The limbic system plays a role in controlling several unconscious physiological functions. These include the key indicators of anxiety like breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. So, by using aromatherapy, it’s thought that it can impact on these indicators, like helping to slow down breathing or lower blood pressure. It’s a bit like a vicious cycle. If our body feels more relaxed, our mind feels more relaxed and vice versa.  The other thing about essential oils is that they can also be rapidly absorbed through our skin and transported around the body to our organs, having a direct impact on them too.

Focus Balm for Nerves and Nausea

Scentered FOCUS Balm has been specifically formulated with Rosemary, which increases alertness and boosts memory, Mint to help stimulate mental activity and increase focus on cognitive tasks, and Clary Sage, fantastic at relieving mental fatigue and promoting clarity. 

It’s a powerful, invigorating, mind-clearing blend, perfect for when you have nerves or anxiety, and it can also be used to quell the sensation of nausea.  This is a great aromatherapy balm to have in your daily repertoire too. Use it whenever you need to accomplish goals and tasks, when you begin work or study, before work meetings or after a lunch break when it’s time to refocus.  We promise you that it’s better than coffee!

We would love to hear about your mental wellness journey. You can also keep in touch via our Instagram @iamscentered or sign up to our newsletter for updates, news and offers.

Chew mint, brew chamomile. Foods to help with nausea | Nutrition and diet | kitchen

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Nausea can be a sign of serious health problems. It can both indicate diseases, and arise due to improper eating habits (for example, overeating), from motion sickness, as an aggravating circumstance for headaches. You can cope with nausea with the help of folk remedies and adjusting your diet.

Here are some foods and drinks that can relieve you of the unpleasant feeling of nausea.

Water

Water will relieve the dehydration that always accompanies poisoning. But even with less acute problems with the stomach, water will help to balance them. One secret: when nauseated, water should not be drunk in one gulp, in large sips, this can provoke vomiting. You need to drink water at room temperature, in small sips and very slowly. Then the liquid will be absorbed and alleviate the condition.

Ginger

This root is an excellent remedy for stomach and digestion problems. A slice of ginger can also relieve nausea. To do this, you can either suck on a slice of fresh peeled ginger or make yourself ginger tea. Such tea is even recommended to patients after surgical interventions, it relieves discomfort in the stomach.

Important! Ginger should not be abused. Pregnant women should be especially careful about it. They are not recommended to drink more than 1-2 cups of ginger tea per day.

Ginger tea

1 serving

• 200 ml water
• 1 cm ginger root
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 lemon slice

Step 1. Peel the ginger.

Step 2. Finely chop and lightly crush with a knife (can be grated on a coarse grater).

Step 3. Boil water, add ginger and leave for 5-7 minutes.

Step 4. Add honey and lemon to taste, but not too much. Excess acid can spoil the taste of tea.

Lemon

Tea with lemon is a purely Russian invention. It became popular thanks to our long and not too smooth roads. Travelers were seasick on them, and tea was served at post stations. At the station they offered a choice: tea with lemon or with a towel. If they chose the first, they brought a glass with a slice of lemon, and if with a towel, then many glasses of tea with raspberry leaves and other herbs were waiting for the traveler. After 5-7 glasses, a towel became especially necessary, as sweat broke through. Many chose this option: after all, lemons were expensive.

Mint

If you have fresh mint, add a few sprigs to your black tea pot. If mint is only dry, then you need to add a teaspoon of herbs to a glass of boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. And then – strain. You can drink with honey (if there is no heartburn and stomach problems), you can add a slice of lemon.

To relieve sudden nausea, you can simply chew a fresh mint leaf. Or knead it in your fingers and smell it. The fresh aroma helps a lot with problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

Fennel

Fennel seeds are pleasantly spicy and have a slight cooling effect. They have a lot of vitamins, there are also magnesium, potassium, calcium, zinc. Seeds have anti-inflammatory, healing, soothing effect. They help with colitis and flatulence. With nausea, it is recommended to drink tea with the addition of these seeds.

To brew such a healing tea, you need 1 tsp. add fennel seeds to a saucepan with cold water, bring to a boil, boil, and then strain the tea into a cup.

Important! During pregnancy and lactation, fennel should be used with caution and only after consulting a doctor.

Chamomile tea

This tea is a versatile remedy for stomach problems, nausea and digestion. In pharmacies, chamomile is sold in filter bags, they are convenient to brew.

Important! Chamomile is contraindicated in pregnant women. Also, chamomile tea can change the effect of anticoagulants (drugs that regulate blood clotting). You can not combine the intake of these drugs and chamomile.

Cinnamon

Another spice that has a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract and normalizes its work. To get rid of nausea with cinnamon, you need to add a stick of spice to tea or another drink (except alcohol).

BRYAS

Bananas, rice, applesauce and crackers – this is how this strange abbreviation stands for. It is these products that are recommended if you feel nausea, there are minor problems with the stomach. They are easy to digest, contain vitamins and minerals that you could lose due to dehydration from poisoning, for example. Do not add sauces and a lot of salt to rice. This diet cannot be observed for more than 1-2 days, since it is not balanced and is only of a fasting nature.

Limit

Salt. Sodium increases the feeling of nausea, so it is better not to eat salty foods with soybeans. It is advisable not to salt food at all for a while.

Fat. Fatty foods, especially foods high in animal saturated fats, are difficult for the body to process and absorb. Therefore, it can cause feelings of rejection and nausea if you have stomach and intestinal problems.

Alcohol, especially strong alcohol, can only increase the feeling of nausea and cause severe vomiting. In addition, it will aggravate already existing problems with the stomach.

Spicy food. A large amount of spices only irritates the esophagus and stomach, they can cause nausea or make it worse. Even those spices that fight this unpleasant feeling should be taken in small quantities.

healthy foods nausea

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Baby sick? Mint to the rescue!

All health problems in our precious babies cause fear in mothers. Of course, we manifest it in different ways: someone endlessly pulls doctors and panics a lot, while someone stoically worries inside.

Nausea and vomiting are one of the most unpleasant symptoms that frighten mothers. There can be many reasons, ranging from overeating and motion sickness to diseases that require immediate medical attention. Often nausea occurs when overfeeding a baby or as a manifestation of viral infections or harmful bacterial flora that has entered the body along with low-quality products. Definitely, with nausea, except for motion sickness or overeating, calling a doctor and following all his recommendations is one of the mandatory procedures. But you can help the child and herbs. Of course, medicinal and with proven effectiveness.

Mint is one of the wonderful plants so beloved by medicine of all ages and included in many medicines. Yes, yes, it is this mint that we add to tea. There are many varieties of mint: peppermint, mountain, field, forest, wild and many other subspecies. Peppermint is recognized as official medicine and included in the Pharmacopoeia of different countries. The rest of the species are different. In Crete, for example, mountain mint is also used.

One way or another, any kind of mint contains essential oil, the main component of which – menthol – has a lot of medicinal properties. According to research, menthol suppresses the gag reflex and prevents the reproduction of harmful microbes. Menthol esters and other components of peppermint essential oil relieve spasm of the stomach, gallbladder and intestines. Peppermint essential oil also contains isovaleric acid, which calms the nervous system and relieves spasm.

Other essential oil substances – beta-pinene, limonene, cineole, tannins and ursolic acid – suppress harmful microflora, reduce inflammation and reduce pain.

In general, mint can reduce nausea and vomiting, help to cope with pathogenic microflora, reduce gas formation and soothe a suffering child.

Again, after a visit to the doctor and the appointment of the main treatment – except for cases of motion sickness and overeating.

How to use mint for nausea and vomiting?

Peppermint or mountain mint can be used, but since peppermint contains more menthol, less can be used.

• For babies from one to three years old, take 1 teaspoon without a top of mountain mint grass (pepper can be an incomplete teaspoon), pour a glass of boiling water for 40 minutes, filter and give one tablespoon every 2 hours. For children from 3 to 7 years old, we make the same infusion, but you can take a teaspoon of mountain mint with a top (peppermint – without a top). And at the age of 7 to 14 years – a tablespoon without a top (peppermint, respectively, – an incomplete tablespoon).

Of course, with severe vomiting, more serious medications are needed under the supervision of a doctor, but when the condition is better, mint (along with medications) will help the child cope with nausea and tummy pain much faster.

In addition, you can take mint during illness and at least two weeks after. Half a cup twice a day. This will help to cope with such unpleasant consequences of viral infections as a decrease in appetite, because mint helps food to be better absorbed and awakens appetite.

Peppermint KURTES. Company picture

It’s also good for worried moms to drink mint with their babies. This will calm their nervous system and normalize sleep.

And if you are avid travelers or often have to travel by car with a baby, then you can make a mint infusion before the trip, pour it into a bottle, take it with you and give it to your child as needed.

Peppermint and mountain mint have been growing in Crete since time immemorial.