Everyone feels “queasy” sometimes. Often, it can be frustratingly difficult to trace the root, while at other times it’s obvious what has caused your bout of nausea.
For some people mild symptoms of nausea may be caused by things like morning sickness, eating certain types of foods, or mild illnesses. In more extreme situations, nausea may be an expected symptom of medical treatment, such as chemotherapy or radiation. In this blog, we explore a few ideas that might help you reduce nausea.
Try to Find the Trigger and Eliminate It
Nausea creates an unpleasant feeling in your gut, throat or abdomen. As soon as you start to feel this, take a minute to consider all the things that might have caused it, whether it’s a certain type of nut bar you’ve just tried, a drink you’ve consumed, or just a smell you’ve encountered.
Adapt Your Eating Habits
When you’re actually feeling nauseous already, it’s useful to adapt your eating habits until you feel completely better. This can stop your symptoms from getting worse and allows your stomach to settle much faster. A few tips are:
- Try to reduce overall consumption (smaller portions and less often)
- Avoid eating anything other than essentials (e.g. no crisps or biscuits)
- Try eating bland and dry foods that won’t disagree with your stomach for any reason
- Drink clear liquids or teas
- Reduce fatty, fried and spicy foods that may irritate your stomach
Look After Your Digestive Health
If you regularly suffer from nausea, investing in your digestive health can help reduce its impact. This starts with maintaining a healthy diet, but also considering the various ingredients that can help to boost your gut health, such as probiotic yoghurts.
Acupuncture for Nausea
Some sufferers of nausea strongly believe acupuncture is one of the most effective ways to treat it. As this practice is based on its perceived ability to regulate the activity of gastric muscles, regulate bodily functions and help to restore overall balance, it can be seen as a way to stabilize your body during times of nausea and queasiness.
Self acupressure
It is also possible to alleviate some nausea by massaging an acu point on the wrist. Pe6 Neiguan has been trialed in cases of post operative nausea and performs just as well as the anti emetic medication used conventionally.
It is located about 3 finger widths up from the wrist between the tendons of your forearm. Pressing and rubbing in a circular direction until it aches slightly can help reduce nausea symptoms. It’s the same point used by the travel sickness bands you may have seen.
What Else Can Help?
Whether you’re just feeling “off” or significantly unbalanced, there might be various ways to reduce the kind of nausea you feel. These range from meditation and focusing on calming the mind to Yoga and Pilates, where you improve your awareness and control over your body and mind.
If you’re interested in working with us to reduce nausea, get in touch and we’ll happily tell you all about our Central London acupuncture, bodywork and Chinese medicine practices!
