Low blood pressure, generally defined as a reading below 90/60 mmHg, can cause dizziness, fainting, fatigue, and blurred vision. A drop of just 20 mmHg in your systolic pressure (the top number) can be enough to make you lightheaded. If your blood pressure is consistently low and causing symptoms, several practical strategies can bring it up, ranging from simple dietary changes to physical techniques that work in seconds.
Drink More Fluids
Low blood volume is one of the most straightforward causes of low blood pressure. When you’re not drinking enough, there simply isn’t enough fluid in your blood vessels to maintain adequate pressure. Your body tries to compensate by releasing a hormone that constricts blood vessels, but it can only do so much.
General fluid guidelines suggest about 3.7 liters per day for men and 2.7 liters per day for women, including fluids from food. If you’re dealing with chronic low blood pressure, you may need to be more deliberate about hitting or exceeding those numbers. Carrying a water bottle and drinking consistently throughout the day, rather than waiting until you’re thirsty, makes a measurable difference in blood volume.
Increase Your Salt Intake
For most people, the advice is to limit sodium. But if you have low blood pressure, especially the kind that worsens when you stand up (orthostatic hypotension), more salt is often part of the treatment plan. Sodium helps your body retain water, which expands blood volume and raises pressure.
The amount recommended varies depending on the condition. For people with orthostatic disorders, medical guidelines typically suggest 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium per day, and some recommendations go as high as 4,000 to 8,000 mg daily for conditions like POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). For context, the average American already consumes about 3,400 mg per day, so people with significant blood pressure drops may need to actively add salt beyond their normal diet. One study found that adding roughly 2,400 mg of sodium per day for two months improved both blood pressure stability on standing and blood flow to the brain.
Practical ways to increase sodium include salting meals more generously, eating broth-based soups, adding pickles or olives to meals, and using electrolyte drinks rather than plain water.
Use Physical Counterpressure Techniques
When you feel symptoms coming on, like lightheadedness or tunnel vision, certain muscle-tensing techniques can push blood pressure up within seconds. These work by squeezing blood from your legs and abdomen back toward your heart.
- Leg crossing: Cross one leg over the other and squeeze the muscles in your legs, abdomen, and buttocks. Hold until symptoms pass.
- Arm tensing: Grip one hand with the other and pull them apart without letting go, creating an isometric contraction. Hold as long as you can or until you feel better.
- Handgrip: Squeeze a rubber ball in your dominant hand firmly and continuously until symptoms ease.
These techniques are especially useful when you’re stuck standing in a line, at a concert, or in any situation where sitting down isn’t an option. They’re a first-line recommendation from cardiologists for people prone to fainting.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings prevent blood from pooling in your legs, which is a major contributor to blood pressure drops when you stand. Most specialists recommend waist-high stockings rated at 20 to 30 mmHg or 30 to 40 mmHg of pressure. Knee-high stockings are easier to put on but less effective because blood can still pool in the thighs. Abdominal compression binders can also help, particularly for people whose blood pressure drops significantly after standing.
Putting them on first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed, gives the best results since blood hasn’t had a chance to settle into your lower body yet.
Adjust Your Eating Patterns
Blood pressure naturally dips after eating because your body diverts blood flow to your digestive system. For some people, this drop is dramatic enough to cause dizziness or fainting, a condition called postprandial hypotension. Large, carbohydrate-heavy meals trigger the biggest drops.
Switching from three large meals to six smaller ones throughout the day keeps your digestive system from demanding as much blood at once. Reducing refined carbohydrates at meals and pairing them with protein or fat can also blunt the post-meal dip.
Have Caffeine Strategically
Caffeine raises blood pressure by an average of about 3/2.5 mmHg in adults, with a stronger effect in the first week of use (around 5/2 mmHg). That’s a modest bump, but for someone whose blood pressure is borderline low, a cup of coffee before a long period of standing or before a meal can provide a meaningful buffer. The effect diminishes with regular daily use as your body adapts, so occasional or strategic use tends to be more effective than constant consumption.
Medications for Persistent Low Blood Pressure
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, prescription medications can help. The two most commonly prescribed options work through different mechanisms. One helps your body retain more sodium and water, expanding blood volume. The other tightens blood vessels directly, which raises pressure. Both require monitoring because they can overcorrect the problem or cause side effects like fluid retention or elevated blood pressure when lying down.
Medications are typically reserved for people whose low blood pressure significantly impacts daily functioning and hasn’t responded adequately to salt, fluids, compression, and other non-drug approaches.
Common Causes Worth Addressing
Raising blood pressure with the strategies above treats the symptom, but identifying the underlying cause matters too. Dehydration is the most common and most fixable culprit. Beyond that, anemia (low red blood cell count), thyroid disorders, adrenal insufficiency, and certain medications, particularly blood pressure drugs, diuretics, and some antidepressants, can all drive blood pressure too low. Orthostatic hypotension, which affects an estimated 7% to 10% of adults with high blood pressure and is especially common in older adults, often results from the nervous system failing to properly adjust blood vessel tone when you change positions.
If your blood pressure is naturally on the low side but you feel fine, there’s generally no reason to try raising it. Most clinicians consider low blood pressure a problem only when it produces symptoms. Plenty of healthy, active people walk around with readings in the 90s/60s and feel perfectly normal. The strategies above are for people whose low readings come with dizziness, fainting, fatigue, or difficulty concentrating, not for people who simply noticed a low number on a home monitor.