Motion sickness remedies: what actually works
The Dizzout remedy verdicts cover 23 remedies, one verdict each: 13 tied to the published trials behind them and 10 marked untested because no motion sickness trial exists. Most remedy articles hedge every entry into uselessness. These pages commit to one verdict per remedy and show you the trial it rests on. The short version: a clear forward view has the strongest evidence of anything free, controlled breathing and chewing gum have real if modest support, ginger works on your stomach rather than your inner ear, the wristband trials contradict each other, and a great deal of standard travel advice has never been tested at all.
Prefer to avoid pills altogether? The step-by-step version of the drug-free options is at how to stop motion sickness without medicine.
Every verdict below refers to research on motion sickness specifically. That restriction does most of the work here: plenty of remedies with decent evidence for nausea after surgery or during chemotherapy have never been tested against the sensory conflict that makes you ill in a car, and quietly borrowing that evidence is the commonest way these articles mislead.
Every remedy, ranked by evidence
| Remedy | Verdict | What the evidence is |
|---|---|---|
| Looking at the horizon | Yes | Turner & Griffin, 1999 |
| Driving instead of riding | Yes | Rolnick & Lubow, 1991; Turner & Griffin, 1999 |
| Controlled breathing | Probably | Yen Pik Sang, Billar, Golding & Gresty, 2003 |
| Ginger | Probably | Grøntved, Brask, Kambskard & Hentzer, 1988; Lien et al., 2003 |
| Chewing gum | Probably | Kaufeld, De Coninck, Schmidt & Hecht, 2022 |
| Music | Probably | Yen Pik Sang, Billar, Golding & Gresty, 2003; Keshavarz & Hecht, 2014 |
| Putting your phone away | Probably | Turner & Griffin, 1999 |
| Acupressure wristbands | Mixed | Miller & Muth, 2004; Hu, Stritzel, Chandler & Stern, 1995 |
| Electrical nerve-stimulation bands | Mixed | Hu, Stern & Koch, 1992; Miller & Muth, 2004 |
| Lemon | Mixed | Zhang, Bao & Feng, 2026; Paillard et al., 2014 |
| Brain-training games | Mixed | Smyth, Jennings, Bennett & Birrell, 2021; Wiesing, Zimmermann, Schmidt & Buchner, 2024 |
| Ginger ale | Untested | No direct trial · related: Grøntved, Brask, Kambskard & Hentzer, 1988 |
| Closing your eyes | Untested | No direct trial · related: Turner & Griffin, 1999 |
| Fresh air | Untested | No trial in motion sickness |
| Eating before you travel | Untested | No direct trial · related: Lien et al., 2003 |
| Essential oils | Untested | No direct trial · related: Hines et al., 2018 |
| Sniffing an alcohol swab | Untested | No direct trial · related: Beadle et al., 2016 |
| Vitamin B6 | Untested | No trial in motion sickness |
| Green apples | Untested | No trial in motion sickness |
| Cola and soda | Untested | No trial in motion sickness |
| Ice and cold packs | Untested | No trial in motion sickness |
| Caffeine and coffee | No | Wood et al., 1992 |
| Motion sickness glasses | No | Germansky et al., 2026 |
How Dizzout assigns a verdict
- YesTested for motion sickness and it held up.
- ProbablyReal trial support, but modest or from a single study.
- MixedTrials disagree: some found an effect, better-designed ones did not.
- UntestedNo one has tested this for motion sickness. It may still be sensible.
- NoTested for motion sickness and it did not beat a placebo.
A verdict of yes or probably requires at least one named supporting trial in motion sickness; mixed requires studies pointing both ways. The distinction we care most about is between untested and no: “nobody has looked” is a completely different claim from “we looked and it failed,” and collapsing the two is how confident-sounding advice gets built on nothing. Every trial behind these verdicts, in one table.
Things you look at, hear or smell
- Looking at the horizonYesDoes looking at the horizon help motion sickness?
- MusicProbablyDoes listening to music help motion sickness?
- Closing your eyesUntestedDoes closing your eyes help motion sickness?
- Fresh airUntestedDoes fresh air help motion sickness?
- Essential oilsUntestedDo essential oils help motion sickness?
- LemonMixedDoes lemon help motion sickness?
- Sniffing an alcohol swabUntestedDoes sniffing an alcohol swab help nausea?
- Ice and cold packsUntestedDoes ice or a cold pack help motion sickness?
Things you do
- Driving instead of ridingYesWhy do drivers rarely get car sick?
- Controlled breathingProbablyDoes controlled breathing help motion sickness?
- Eating before you travelUntestedShould you eat before travel if you get motion sick?
- Brain-training gamesMixedDo brain-training games help motion sickness?
- Putting your phone awayProbablyDoes putting your phone away help motion sickness?
Things you swallow
Things you wear
Travelers' folklore
Common questions
What is the most effective motion sickness remedy that is not a drug?
Getting a clear view of the road or horizon ahead has the strongest field evidence. In a survey of 3,256 coach passengers, travel sickness was reported by 34.6% of those with no view of the road ahead compared with 12.7% of those who could see it well. Controlled breathing and being the driver rather than a passenger also have supporting trial evidence.
Do acupressure wristbands work for motion sickness?
The evidence conflicts. A 1995 study found P6 acupressure reduced nausea against sham, but a larger 2004 trial of the commercial bands concluded that neither band nor placebo prevented motion sickness, whether worn correctly or incorrectly. No completed Cochrane review exists: the protocol was withdrawn in 2015.
Does ginger help motion sickness?
Probably, modestly. In an open-sea trial, 80 naval cadets given 1 g of powdered ginger reported less vomiting and fewer cold sweats than placebo. Later work suggests ginger acts on gastric rhythm rather than on the inner ear, which is why it tends to reduce queasiness rather than prevent sickness outright.
How do you rate whether a motion sickness remedy works?
Each remedy gets one of five verdicts: yes, probably, mixed, untested, or no, based only on research into motion sickness itself, not nausea in general. A verdict of yes or probably requires at least one named supporting trial; mixed requires trials on both sides; untested means no trial has looked, which is different from a remedy having been tested and failed.
Where to go next
If you want a recommendation rather than a verdict, the remedy finder narrows it by who you are and where you are going. For prescription and pharmacy options see the medication guides, and for the head-to-head write-ups see our comparisons. If symptoms have already started, here is the 90-second protocol.
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When it isn't motion sickness. Severe or lasting dizziness, a spinning sensation at rest, hearing loss, ringing in one ear, double vision, a bad headache, chest pain, fainting, or vomiting you cannot stop are not motion sickness. Seek medical care rather than a travel remedy.
Dizzout is not a medical provider and nothing here is medical advice. These pages summarize published research so you can weigh it: they cannot account for your health, your medicines or your pregnancy. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist before starting any supplement or medication, especially if you take other drugs, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are buying for a child. Evidence summaries reflect the published literature as of July 2026 and describe findings in groups of people, which cannot predict your individual response. Product and brand names are trademarks of their respective owners; Dizzout is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.