Low blood pressure, generally defined as a reading below 90/60 mmHg, can be raised through a combination of dietary changes, hydration strategies, physical techniques, and lifestyle adjustments. Even a drop of just 20 mmHg from your normal reading can cause dizziness or fainting, so knowing how to bring your numbers up matters for daily functioning and safety.
Drink More Water, and Drink It Quickly
Water does more than prevent dehydration. Drinking it triggers a reflex that activates your sympathetic nervous system, the same system responsible for your “fight or flight” response. This causes blood vessels to tighten and pushes blood pressure upward. In a study published in Circulation, drinking about 16 ounces (480 mL) of water raised seated blood pressure by 11 mmHg in older adults and by a striking 43 mmHg in people with autonomic nervous system problems. Drinking 16 ounces produced a noticeably stronger effect than drinking 8 ounces.
For practical purposes, this means keeping a water bottle nearby and drinking full glasses rather than sipping small amounts throughout the day. If you tend to feel lightheaded in the morning or after standing, drinking 16 ounces of water about 15 minutes beforehand can help buffer the drop.
Increase Your Salt Intake
While most health advice tells people to cut sodium, the opposite applies when your blood pressure runs too low. Salt helps your body retain water, which increases blood volume and raises pressure. Medical guidelines for people with orthostatic hypotension (the kind that drops when you stand) recommend between 2,400 and 4,000 mg of sodium per day. For conditions like POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), recommendations go even higher, up to 4,000 to 4,800 mg daily.
One study found that adding roughly 2,400 mg of supplemental sodium per day for two months improved standing tolerance and blood vessel function in people who were previously fainting. A common approach is adding 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to each meal, through salty foods, broth, or salt tablets. If you have kidney disease or heart failure, increasing salt needs to be discussed with a provider first, since those conditions change the equation significantly.
Use Physical Counter-Pressure Maneuvers
When you feel a drop coming on, certain muscle-tensing techniques can raise your blood pressure within seconds. The American Heart Association recommends several of these for people prone to fainting spells:
- Leg crossing with muscle tensing: Cross your legs and squeeze your thigh, abdominal, and buttock muscles simultaneously. This works while standing or lying down.
- Squatting: Lower yourself into a squat, tensing your lower body and abdomen. Stay there until symptoms pass, then stand slowly.
- Arm tensing: Grip your hands together, interlocking fingers, and pull your arms in opposite directions as hard as you can.
- Isometric handgrip: Clench your fist at maximum force, with or without an object in your hand.
These maneuvers work by compressing blood vessels in your large muscle groups, forcing blood back toward your heart and brain. They’re especially useful in situations where you can’t sit down right away, like standing in line or getting out of bed.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings and abdominal binders prevent blood from pooling in your legs and abdomen when you stand. Studies on compression therapy for low blood pressure have tested garments ranging from 20 to 40 mmHg of pressure at the ankle. Thigh-high stockings and abdominal binders tend to work better than knee-length stockings alone, because more of the body’s blood-pooling territory gets covered.
If you’re new to compression, starting with 20 to 30 mmHg stockings is reasonable. Waist-high garments or combining knee-high stockings with an abdominal binder gives you the broadest coverage. These work best when put on before getting out of bed in the morning, since that’s when blood pooling is most likely to cause problems.
Adjust How and What You Eat
Large meals, especially carbohydrate-heavy ones, can pull blood toward your digestive system and cause a noticeable pressure drop afterward. This is called postprandial hypotension, and it’s particularly common in older adults. Two changes help prevent it: eating six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three large ones, and keeping carbohydrates low at each sitting. Bread, pasta, rice, and sugary foods are the main culprits. Replacing some of those carbs with protein and fat keeps your blood pressure more stable after eating.
Have Caffeine Strategically
A cup of coffee can raise blood pressure by up to 10 mmHg. The effect kicks in within about 30 minutes, peaks around one hour, then gradually fades. This makes caffeine a useful tool if you time it right. Drinking coffee or tea before activities that tend to lower your pressure, like a big meal or a long period of standing, can offset the dip. Regular caffeine users may find the effect blunted over time as tolerance builds, so it works best when used selectively rather than all day long.
Elevate the Head of Your Bed
Sleeping with your head raised 8 to 12 inches above your feet helps your body adjust to upright posture overnight, reducing the sharp blood pressure drop many people experience when getting out of bed in the morning. This isn’t the same as propping yourself up with pillows, which bends at the waist. The goal is to tilt the entire bed or use a wedge that elevates your torso in a straight line. Placing blocks or risers under the head of the bed frame is the simplest approach. A foam wedge pillow that raises your upper body by 8 inches or more works as an alternative.
Medications for Persistent Low Blood Pressure
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, two types of medication are commonly prescribed. One works by tightening blood vessels directly, raising pressure throughout the body. The other is a synthetic hormone that helps your kidneys retain sodium and water, increasing blood volume. Both are typically started at low doses and adjusted gradually. These medications are reserved for people whose low blood pressure causes frequent symptoms like fainting, severe dizziness, or falls, and they require monitoring because overcorrection can lead to dangerously high pressure while lying down.
Symptoms That Signal Something Serious
Occasional lightheadedness when standing up quickly is common and usually harmless. But low blood pressure paired with confusion, blurred vision, cold or clammy skin, rapid shallow breathing, or fainting that doesn’t resolve quickly can indicate that your brain and organs aren’t getting enough blood flow. A sudden drop, for instance from a systolic reading of 110 down to 90, is enough to cause significant symptoms even though 90 might look “normal” on paper. If you’re experiencing repeated fainting episodes or your symptoms are getting worse over time, that pattern points toward an underlying cause that needs investigation rather than just home management.