The three steps, in full
As a passenger who feels motion sick right now: fix your eyes on something far away for 15 seconds, breathe in for four and out for four for the next 30, then get cool air on your face while keeping your eyes far. That is the whole 90 seconds. It costs nothing, needs no equipment, and you can run it as many times as you want.
0 to 15 seconds
Eyes up
Look up and far away, and hold one point: the horizon, the road ahead, a building at the end of the street. Your inner ear is reporting motion your eyes are not confirming, and a distant fixed point is the fastest way to line the two back up. If there is no horizon to find, a windowless cabin or turbulence at night, close your eyes instead and keep them still behind the lids. What you must not do is look at anything close and moving, which means the phone, the book, and the seat back in front of you.
15 to 45 seconds
Breathe on a four count
In through the nose for four seconds. Hold for four. Out through the mouth for four. Hold for four. Then repeat. Counting is the point as much as the breathing is: it gives you something steady to do while the wave passes, and it stops the fast shallow breathing that panic adds on top of nausea. Keep it comfortable. If you feel light headed you are breathing too deeply, not too slowly, so make the breaths smaller rather than stopping.
45 to 90 seconds
Cool air, eyes still far
Get moving air onto your face. Crack a window, turn a vent toward you, step onto the deck, or stand in the doorway between carriages. Cool air on the face is one of the few things that reliably takes the edge off, and it costs nothing. While you do it, keep your eyes where you put them in step one. Loosen a tight collar or seatbelt strap across your neck, and put away anything you were reading.
None of the three needs a signal, so once this page has loaded the timer keeps working whether or not the connection does. If you are still queasy at the end, the drug free option built for that point is sound therapy through headphones: unlike tablets, which need 30 to 60 minutes and are prevention rather than rescue, it is designed to be used once symptoms have already started. Most people using the Dizzout app feel better in about 90 seconds.
Quick answers
Can I do this while driving?+
No. Pull over somewhere safe first, then start. These steps ask you to change where you look and how you breathe, and neither belongs to the person at the wheel. If you cannot stop yet, keep your eyes far down the road, open a window, and get off the road at the next safe place.
What if 90 seconds is not enough?+
Run it again. Nothing here has a limit and nothing here interacts with anything. Motion sickness usually comes in waves rather than one flat line, so a second pass through the same three steps often lands better than the first. Keep the eyes and the air going between rounds.
When is this not motion sickness?+
When there is no motion. Dizziness or nausea that starts at rest, a spinning sensation that will not settle, symptoms that last for days after the trip ends, or anything alongside hearing changes, a severe headache, chest pain, or fainting is a reason to see a doctor rather than run a breathing exercise.
When you are through it
These are general comfort steps, not medical treatment, and this page is not a substitute for medical advice. If symptoms are severe, persist for days, occur without any motion, or arrive with hearing changes, chest pain, or fainting, seek medical care.