7 Ways to Get Rid of Motion Sickness

If you’ve experienced motion sickness, you know how uncomfortable it can be. For some, just thinking about it brings on a wave of gut-clenching unease.

Even though motion sickness can be very uncomfortable, it isn’t an illness. It’s your body’s normal response to motion. The good news is you can stop motion sickness once it has started. And you can even keep it from starting. 

If you feel motion sickness, here are seven ways to feel better right away.

1. Stop what you’re doing

If you can stop the car or get off the ride, do it. Once the movement stops, motion sickness symptoms often start to improve. Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done. But there are still steps you can take to feel better — even if you can’t get off a train, car, or boat. Here are some examples:

• Stop reading: If you’re reading or looking at a screen, put the book or device down and instead look outside at something still or far away. 

• Rest your head: Keeping your head still and resting it against a seat or headrest may also help. 

• Get some air: If possible, get some fresh air by opening a window or turning on a vent.

2. Change your position

Your position also makes a big difference in helping your brain understand what’s happening. Make sure you’re facing forward if you can. Or better yet, lie down if you can. Your head moves less when you’re lying down. Less head movement often eases motion sickness.

If you’re in a car, sit in the front seat and focus on the distant horizon. You can also try driving the car instead of being a passenger. Drivers are less likely to feel car sick because they can anticipate the movement of the vehicle. This gives the brain time to adjust so you feel less motion sickness.

3. Quiet your senses

When you’re motion sick, your brain is already in overdrive. Calming your other senses gives your brain the space it needs to focus on understanding your movement. And this will help relieve your symptoms.

To reduce visual input, put on a pair of sunglasses or close your eyes. You can also listen to calming music or wear noise-canceling headphones. Take slow, deep breaths or perform breathing exercises to calm your sympathetic nervous system. You can even try light aromatherapy. 

4. Put on a scopolamine patch

Scopolamine is a medication that calms the vomiting and balance centers in the brain, relieving nausea. It comes as a patch that you can put on the skin behind your ear. The patch lets the medicine stay in your system over a longer period of time. You also don’t have to worry about trying to swallow and keep down a pill.

If you want an alternative to a patch, scopolamine comes in a pill form and a fast-acting nasal spray.

Scopolamine can take several hours to start working (especially in patch form). So it’s better to put on a patch about 4 hours before you start traveling.

People with glaucoma or an enlarged prostate shouldn’t use scopolamine. The patch is also not recommended for children under age 10.

5. OTC medications

You can also try over-the-counter (OTC) medications to help combat motion sickness. These medications also block receptors in the brain’s vomiting center. 

Antihistamines take about 2 or 3 hours to kick in. Like scopolamine, it’s better to take these medications before you start traveling. Popular options include:

• Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)

• Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine)

• Meclizine (Antivert, Bonine)

6. Eat ginger (or ginger candy)

If you’re waiting for your scopolamine or antihistamine to kick in, you can try eating ginger or ginger chews. For centuries, people have used ginger to help with nausea from morning sickness and other illnesses. Ginger may also be helpful for nausea from motion sickness, especially if used along with other therapies. 

7. Put on an acupressure bracelet

Acupressure bracelets put pressure on a point in your wrist. They’re an offshoot of acupuncture, an ancient type of medicine that many people still use today. The idea is that the bracelets relieve nausea and other motion sickness symptoms by putting pressure on a certain point.

You can get acupressure bracelets OTC. Some studies show they relieve symptoms. And since they’re safe to use, it can be worth trying them out for yourself.

How long does motion sickness last?

For most people, motion sickness goes away within a day after the movement that caused it stops. Some people develop sopite syndrome, which can cause tiredness, depression, and irritability for several days. 

Less commonly, people develop disembarkment syndrome, which causes a feeling of movement even after the actual movement has stopped. These symptoms can last for more than a month. 

What causes motion sickness?

Motion sickness happens when your brain gets conflicting information about how you’re moving. To figure out if you’re moving and how to respond, your brain depends on input from your eyes, inner ear, and your body’s position.

Normally, if you move, the environment around you changes. But sometimes, you might be still while the environment around you moves (like in a car). Other times, you might be moving even though the environment around you looks like it’s not moving (like in the cabin of a boat or plane). Or you might be still, but it looks like things are moving around you (like in a simulation ride or virtual-reality game).

In these situations, your brain gets confused and doesn’t know how to respond. The end result is that you feel motion sickness.

What are the risk factors of motion sickness?

People are more likely to feel motion sickness if they're:

• Younger: Toddlers and infants don’t get motion sick. But children, teens, and young adults are most likely to get motion sickness. As you get older, you're less likely to feel motion sickness.

• Pregnant: Like morning sickness, you're at higher risk for motion sickness during pregnancy because of hormone changes. This also may explain why people going through menopause also have a higher risk of feeling motion sick.

• Less active: People who are more physically active are less likely to develop motion sickness — another great reason to add movement into your daily routine.

• Prone to migraines or vertigo: People who experience migraines or vertigo more easily feel motion sickness, as are people with Meniere’s disease.

• Genetically prone to motion sickness: Like your height or eye color, your susceptibility for motion sickness is genetic. You’re much more likely to feel motion sick if your parents or siblings get motion sickness. 

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Written by:

Ronald W. Dworkin, MD, PhD

Ronald W. Dworkin, MD, is a board-certified anesthesiologist who has been practicing anesthesiology in a community hospital for 30 years. He has taught in the honors program at George Washington University for over 10 years and works as a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Edited by:

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH, is a medical editor at GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified pediatrician with more than a decade of experience in academic medicine.

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