First make your changes to nginx.conf.
Then run the following command to test the new configuration:
 # nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf 
 2007/10/18 20:55:07 [info] 3125#0: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
 2007/10/18 20:55:07 [info] 3125#0: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf was tested successfully
Next, look for the process id of the master nginx process:
 # ps -ef|grep nginx
 root      1911     1  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx
 www-data  1912  1911  0 18:00 ?        00:00:00 nginx: worker process
Lastly, tell nginx to reload the configuration and restart the worker processes:
 # kill -HUP 1911
taken from:
http://snippets.aktagon.com/snippets/93-Change-nginx-configuration-on-the-fly