Low blood pressure, generally defined as a reading below 90/60 mmHg, can cause dizziness, fainting, fatigue, and blurred vision. Raising it involves a combination of dietary changes, physical techniques, and sometimes medication. The right approach depends on whether your blood pressure drops when you stand up, after meals, or stays low throughout the day.
Drink More Fluids and Add Salt
The two simplest ways to raise blood pressure are increasing your fluid and salt intake. Water directly increases your blood volume, which pushes more blood through your vessels and raises pressure. Dehydration is one of the most common and easily fixable causes of low readings.
Salt works because sodium causes your body to retain water, boosting blood volume further. While most dietary advice centers on reducing sodium, people with chronically low blood pressure benefit from the opposite strategy. In clinical studies on patients who faint from blood pressure drops, supplementing with about 6 grams of sodium chloride per day improved blood flow to the brain and reduced symptoms over two months. That’s roughly 2,300 mg of sodium, the amount in about one teaspoon of table salt. You can increase sodium through saltier foods, broth, or electrolyte drinks. Too much sodium can strain the heart over time, so this is a strategy worth discussing with your doctor if you have any history of heart problems.
Use Caffeine Strategically
A strong cup of coffee or tea with breakfast can give your blood pressure a short-term bump. In people who don’t drink caffeine regularly, it can raise blood pressure by about 5 to 10 points. The effect kicks in within 30 minutes and can last up to two hours. If you’re prone to morning dizziness or lightheadedness, one or two caffeinated drinks early in the day can help. Just balance it with water, since caffeine is a mild diuretic and can work against your hydration efforts if you’re not careful.
Physical Techniques for Quick Relief
When you feel blood pressure dropping in the moment (dizziness upon standing, lightheadedness in a long line), specific muscle-tensing maneuvers can buy you time by squeezing blood from your legs back toward your heart. The American Heart Association recommends several of these counter-pressure techniques:
- Leg crossing with muscle tensing: Cross your legs and tighten your leg, abdominal, and buttock muscles while standing or lying down.
- Squatting: Drop into a squat, which pools less blood in your lower body. Tense your legs and abdomen while down, then stand slowly once symptoms pass.
- Arm tensing: Grip your hands together, interlocking fingers, and pull your arms in opposite directions as hard as you can.
- Fist clenching: Squeeze your fist as tightly as possible, with or without something in your hand.
These are immediate, temporary fixes. They won’t change your baseline blood pressure, but they can prevent a faint or help you get through a dizzy spell safely.
Wear Compression Stockings
Compression garments squeeze blood from your lower legs back up toward your heart, counteracting the gravity-driven pooling that causes blood pressure to drop when you stand. Knee-high stockings are the most common type, though waist-high options exist if swelling or symptoms extend above the knee. Compression levels range from low (under 20 mmHg) to medium (20 to 30 mmHg) to high (above 30 mmHg), and the right level depends on how severe your symptoms are. Medium compression is a common starting point for people with orthostatic hypotension. Putting them on first thing in the morning, before you stand, gives the most benefit.
Adjust How and When You Eat
Blood pressure naturally dips after eating because your body diverts blood to the digestive system. For some people, especially older adults, this post-meal drop is steep enough to cause dizziness or fainting. If your symptoms tend to appear after meals, a few changes help: eat six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three large ones, and keep carbohydrate content low at each sitting. High-carb meals cause the most dramatic drops. Drinking water before eating also helps maintain blood volume during digestion.
Elevate the Head of Your Bed
If your blood pressure is lowest in the morning, sleeping with the head of your bed raised can help your body adjust to position changes overnight. The recommended tilt is about 10 degrees, which translates to roughly a 9-inch elevation at the head end. You can achieve this with bed risers or a foam wedge under the mattress. This trains your body to tolerate upright positions better and reduces the sharp drop that happens when you first get out of bed.
Medications for Persistent Low Blood Pressure
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, several prescription medications can raise blood pressure. The most commonly prescribed is midodrine, which works by tightening blood vessels. It’s taken multiple times a day and has a relatively short duration of action, so timing doses around your most symptomatic periods matters. Another option is fludrocortisone, a synthetic hormone that causes your kidneys to hold onto more sodium, increasing blood volume. It also makes blood vessels more responsive to signals that tighten them.
Other medications your doctor might consider include droxidopa, which your body converts into a chemical that constricts blood vessels and raises heart rate, and pyridostigmine, which works through a different pathway to support blood pressure during standing. These are typically reserved for people with an underlying neurological cause for their low blood pressure, such as autonomic failure or Parkinson’s disease.
Medication choice depends heavily on the cause of your low blood pressure, other conditions you have, and when your symptoms are worst. Most doctors start with the lowest effective dose and adjust gradually.