5 Essential Oil Blends for Nausea

Whether you’ve come down with the stomach flu, are in the throes of morning sickness, or are an uneasy traveler, essential oils can help alleviate the symptoms of nausea.

If you’re like me, you would do just about anything to help take the edge off when you’re feeling queasy. The mere sensation is downright miserable, especially when allowing yourself to be sick doesn’t help as is often the case during pregnancy.

So, for times when you need a little something extra to help, I’ve formulated a few anti-nausea essential oil blends that are easy to throw together and take with you to be used as you need them.

The Best Essential Oils for Nausea + 5 Recipes

Some of the best single essential oils for nausea include:

• Basil
• Bergamot
• Cardamom
• Coriander seed
• Frankincense
• Ginger (I like the Co2 version – the essential oil smells like dirty socks)
• Grapefruit
• Lavender
• Lemon
• Patchouli (when applied diluted directly to the abdomen, not necessarily smelled)
• Peppermint
• Petitgrain
• Roman chamomile
• Spearmint
• Sweet orange

My Top Two Quick-Fix Essential Oils

For travel-induced nausea like motion sickness or altitude sickness (or heck, any form of nausea, really) I find that peppermint essential oil and ginger Co2 to be the most helpful.

Peppermint essential oil has a potent settling effect on the stomach and is so easy to use that even a single drop on a tissue that you can sniff works wonders.

Ginger can be used similarly by adding two drops of the essential oil to a tissue and inhaling the scent as needed.

Combine them and you have a simple yet potent blend for reducing nausea since both of these oils compliment each other on almost every level.

Ginger moves stagnant energy and is warming and spicy while peppermint is cooling, clarifying, and calming. Both of these essential oils work to mitigate muscle spasms and are classic remedies for treating nausea.

For young children under the age of 10, I recommend swapping out peppermint with sweet orange, lemon, or cardamom and use them in a similar way if you’re pressed for a quick remedy. You can even apply a few drops to a cotton ball and wedge it into one of the air vents during car rides.

As for the blends, I have several below that have proven themselves to be effective time and time again in all kinds of nauseating situations.

My Favorite Essential Oil Blends for Reducing Nausea

Nausea Blend #1

This blend is a good one for any type of nausea whether it be from motion sickness, food poisoning, morning sickness, etc.

For this blend, you will need:

• 4 drops peppermint essential oil
• 2 drops ginger Co2
• 2 drops lavender essential oil
• 1 drop of cardamom essential oil

Add the essential oils to a 10ml roll-on bottle, then fill it to the shoulder with a light carrier oil like jojoba or grapeseed oil.

Cap it closed and roll between your palms to mix. Apply to the wrists, throat, and even the upper abdomen before travel to help prevent nausea. Otherwise, apply it as soon as you notice the first signs of queasiness.

You can even dab it onto your palms, rub your hands together, and cup your nose and mouth. Take a few long and measured breaths as needed to alleviate symptoms.

Additionally, add the blend to the cotton insert of a personal nasal inhaler and sniff it as needed. This is a very mess-free and convenient way to carry around and use your blend.

Nausea Blend #2

For times when you’re down for the count and can’t even be bothered to sniff a tissue with oils on it, consider diffusing them. This is especially handy for small children who “can’t be bothered” with consistently using a blend for extended periods of time.

For this blend, you will need:

• An essential oil diffuser
• 3 drops grapefruit essential oil
• 3 drops cardamom essential oil
• 2 drops ginger Co2

Add the oils to your diffuser and diffuse the oils in the same room as the nausea-afflicted person. Diffuse 2-3 times daily.

As always, this blend can also be made into a personal nasal inhaler or a roll-on to use as needed. For the roll-on, be sure not to expose the application area to direct sunlight.

Nausea Blend #3

This blend is great for both children and adults and can be easily made into a personal nasal inhaler. Since the blend contains bergamot essential oil, I do not recommend topical application in case of sun exposure.

For this blend, you will need:

• 3 drops Basil linalool essential oil
• 2 drops sweet orange essential oil
• 2 drops bergamot essential oil

Add the oil to the cotton insert of a personal nasal inhaler and you’re good to go!

As strange as basil essential oil sounds, it’s actually quite effective for all kinds of digestive complaints including nausea.

Nausea Blend #4

This blend is great for when you feel sick because you have overeaten or expect you have eaten something that wasn’t quite right.

It helps calm digestion and lifts that awful feeling a queasiness.

For this blend, you will need:

• 5 drops lemon essential oil
• 4 drops cardamom essential oil
• 3 drops ginger Co2
• 1 drop lavender essential oil

Add the oils to the cotton insert of a personal nasal inhaler and sniff it as needed. You can even use this before heavy meals to help negate stomach upset.

Nausea Blend #5

This blend is actually best used topically right over the stomach and abdomen (one dropperful) and is great for both children and adults.

To make it, you will need:

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• Carrier oil
• 8 drops roman chamomile essential oil
• 4 drops sweet orange essential oil
• 4 drops patchouli essential oil

While this blend isn’t my favorite in terms of aroma, it certainly works well for quelling nausea! In fact, the patchouli essential oil is one of the main reasons for this as it actually stops stomach spasms and vomiting if you’re trying to prevent it.

The roman chamomile is also especially soothing for the stomach and digestive tract and will help calm those muscle contractions.

What have been your favorite essential oils to use for nausea? Please share them in the comments below!

You may also enjoy reading:

The Best Essential Oils for Motion Sickness
The Best Anti-Bloat Essential Oils and How to Use Them!
Essential oils for Digestion

Sources:

Effect of Aromatherapy with Peppermint Oil on the Severity of Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy: A Single-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled trial

Study of the Effect of Mint Oil on Nausea and Vomiting During Pregnancy

Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Essential Oils of Curcuma Species

Biological Activities and Safety of Citrus spp. Essential Oils

Biological Activities of Essential Oils: From Plant Chemoecology to Traditional Healing Systems

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