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How to Ease Nausea at Night: Effective Remedies and Treatments

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Picture this: you’re settling in to unwind after a long day when your stomach gives a sudden gurgle of discomfort.

As the queasy feeling starts to hit, you retrace your steps to figure out what you did to deserve this misery. Did you eat too much or too fast? Were those leftovers from the fridge a little too old?

Unfortunately, if you start noticing nausea at night for several days in a row, you may be looking at something worse than a meal gone wrong. Nausea can spring up for a variety of reasons, and this common condition can be surprisingly tricky to treat. If you’re wondering what to do about your nighttime nausea, let’s take a look at some at-home remedies, medications, and possible causes.

Try Natural Nausea Remedies

If you’ve been dealing with the sudden onset of nausea for the past few nights, there are a few natural remedies you can try on your own. This is a great way to minimize your symptoms as you figure out what’s going on.

Rethink Your Diet

Certain foods may cause or worsen nausea symptoms. To rule out your diet as a contributing factor, try eating lighter, healthier foods. Eat multiple smaller meals throughout the day, and try to eat your last meal at least two hours before bedtime.

Avoid greasy, fatty, smelly, and spicy foods where possible: the body may struggle to process these foods, which can make nausea worse. These foods may also irritate your GERD if you have acid reflux issues.

Stay hydrated, as a healthy water intake can help you combat nausea. Drinking ginger or peppermint tea may also settle the stomach, and some people find that carbonated beverages like ginger ale can help.

Try Acupressure

Sometimes, nausea is related to or worsened by motion sickness. To address this at home, try targeting the pressure point in your wrist.

Locate the two large tendons on the inside of your wrist. Using two or three fingers on your free hand, press down on this groove. You can also try using a motion sickness band, which you’ll find at most drugstores, to keep pressure on this area.

Breathing Exercises

Controlling your breath can sometimes reduce nausea symptoms. It can also help minimize stress, which may cause or exacerbate nausea.

With most breath exercises, you’ll take a slow inhale, hold your breath for a few seconds, and exhale. A great place to start is the 4-7-8 technique.

Use OTC Medications

Certain over-the-counter (OTC) medications may ease your nausea. These anti-nausea medications, called antiemetics, work by blocking the signals sent to the parts of your brain that trigger nausea and vomiting. You can find these medications in drugstores, and your doctor can prescribe stronger versions if you need a different dose.

There are two main types of antiemetics.

First, there’s bismuth subsalicylate. This medication decreases intestinal inflammation, minimizes the salts and fluids entering the gut, and kills bacteria that may be causing your symptoms. It’s great for treating nausea and traveler’s diarrhea.

The other option is antihistamines. These medications are often used for allergies, but they can help certain types of nausea related to things like vertigo or motion sickness. They work by minimizing the electrical signals sent to the inner ear, making it less sensitive to motion.

See Your Doctor

If your nighttime nausea doesn’t go away on its own after a week and you don’t know the cause, see a doctor. This is especially true if OTC medications aren’t helping.

If you’re throwing up every day, you’ve thrown up multiple times in one day, you struggle to stay hydrated and keep fluids down, it’s even more important to talk to a healthcare provider. Regular vomiting can wreak havoc on your health, so get help as soon as you can.

Treat the Root Cause

Natural nausea treatments and OTC medications can help with some of your symptoms, but your nausea might linger until you’ve treated the underlying cause. There are a few things that may prompt a sudden bout of nighttime nausea:

Medication Side Effects

Certain prescription medications can cause nausea at night. If you suspect your medications are the culprit, talk to your doctor about taking the medication at a different time of the day or switching to a different prescription. Don’t stop taking the medication unless directed.

Pregnancy

Nausea and pregnancy go hand in hand. The dietary changes above are often your best bet for dealing with pregnancy-related nighttime nausea. Your doctor may also recommend nutritional supplements, as crucial B vitamins like B6 can sometimes help.

Stress

Anxiety and tension can either cause or worsen nausea. If you’ve been feeling stressed at home or work, doing what you can to minimize your tension can help. Try stress relief tactics like exercise and meditation, and consider seeking cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), one of the most effective anxiety treatments.

GERD

We often associate GERD with heartburn, but this condition can cause nausea as well. Dietary changes as well as medications are your best bets for treating GERD.

Peptic or Stomach Ulcers

Ulcers in the stomach or digestive tract can sometimes cause nausea. If you’re dealing with ulcers, seek medical attention: your doctor may suggest different strategies depending on what’s caused your ulcer. Antacids, H2 blockers, and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are common medications they might suggest.

Gastroparesis

Delayed gastric emptying may make you more prone to nausea and vomiting. Dietary changes can help with this, especially controlling your glucose levels. Your doctor may also suggest medications that speed up the emptying of the stomach.

Treat Your Nausea at Night

No one wants to deal with a queasy stomach at bedtime, and the condition gets even more frustrating when it lasts for several days or weeks at a time. If you’re struggling with nausea at night, try the tips above at home and reach out to your doctor.

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