Blood pressure below 90/60 mmHg is considered low, but it only needs treatment if it’s causing symptoms like dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting. If your low blood pressure is making you feel unwell, several straightforward changes to how you eat, drink, and move can meaningfully raise your numbers without medication.
Drink More Water, and Drink It Strategically
Low blood volume is one of the most common and fixable causes of low blood pressure. Drinking about 500 mL (roughly 16 ounces) of water raises blood pressure within 15 minutes by increasing the volume of fluid in your bloodstream and boosting resistance in your blood vessels. In a study published in Circulation, that amount of water raised diastolic pressure by about 6 mmHg and lowered heart rate by nearly 10 beats per minute during standing, a sign the cardiovascular system was under less strain.
This makes water especially useful as a preventive tool. Drinking a full glass 15 to 30 minutes before you stand up in the morning, before exercise, or before any activity that tends to trigger dizziness gives your body time to expand blood volume before it’s challenged.
Increase Your Salt Intake
Salt helps your body hold onto water, which directly increases blood volume and raises blood pressure. This is the opposite of the advice given to people with high blood pressure, and that’s exactly the point. If your blood pressure runs low, you likely need more sodium than the general population.
Physicians who treat chronic low blood pressure often recommend at least 6 grams of salt per day, compared to the roughly 4 grams recommended for people with normal blood pressure. You can increase your intake by salting food more liberally, eating salty snacks like olives or broth, or using electrolyte drinks. If you have kidney disease or heart failure, talk to your doctor before increasing salt, since those conditions change how your body handles sodium.
Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals
After a large meal, your body diverts a significant amount of blood flow to the digestive system. For people with low blood pressure, this redistribution can cause a noticeable drop, sometimes enough to cause dizziness or faintness while sitting at the table. Research on meal size and blood pressure found that systolic pressure averaged 20 mmHg lower after large meals compared to small ones, and between meals, the gap was even wider: 88 mmHg after large meals versus 104 mmHg after small ones.
Switching to smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day reduces how much blood gets pulled toward digestion at any one time. Keeping those meals lower in simple carbohydrates (white bread, sugary drinks, pasta) also helps, since carbs tend to accelerate the blood-pressure drop after eating.
Use Physical Counter-Pressure Maneuvers
When you feel a dizzy spell coming on, certain muscle-tensing movements can raise your blood pressure quickly by squeezing blood from your legs and core back toward your heart and brain. The American Heart Association recommends several of these:
- Leg crossing with muscle tensing: Cross your legs and tighten your thigh, abdominal, and buttock muscles simultaneously. You can do this standing or lying down.
- Squatting: Lower yourself into a squat, tense your lower body and abdomen, and stay there until symptoms pass before standing slowly.
- Arm tensing: Grip your hands together, interlocking fingers, and pull in opposite directions with maximum force.
- Isometric handgrip: Clench your fist as hard as you can, with or without an object in your hand.
These are temporary fixes, not long-term solutions. But they’re effective in the moment and cost nothing.
Try Compression Stockings
Blood tends to pool in the legs when you stand, and for people with low blood pressure, this pooling can drop pressure enough to cause symptoms. Compression stockings counteract this by physically squeezing blood back upward. Knee-high stockings rated at 20 to 30 mmHg of pressure at the ankle are the most commonly studied for this purpose. In practice, actual compression often runs higher than what’s printed on the label, so starting with a lower rating and seeing how you respond is reasonable.
Waist-high stockings or abdominal binders work even better because they also compress the large veins in the abdomen, but many people find them impractical for daily wear. Knee-high versions are a good compromise between effectiveness and comfort.
Exercise the Right Way
Regular physical activity improves your body’s ability to regulate blood pressure when you change position, and it increases plasma volume over time. But the type of exercise matters. Upright exercise like jogging or standing cycling can actually worsen blood pressure drops during and after the activity. Exercises performed in a sitting or lying position are safer and more effective: swimming, recumbent cycling, or rowing.
Light weight-lifting with smooth, controlled movements (isotonic exercise) is also beneficial. Avoid the kind of straining where you hold your breath and push hard against a fixed resistance, which can temporarily reduce blood flow back to the heart and trigger dizziness.
Check for Vitamin Deficiencies
Vitamin B12 and folate deficiencies can cause a type of anemia that reduces your blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity and interferes with the nerves that control blood vessel constriction. The connection between B12 deficiency and low blood pressure was first documented in the 1960s, and later research showed that B12-deficient patients release less of the chemical that tightens blood vessels when standing, leading to drops in pressure upon standing up.
In documented cases, blood pressure rose steadily once B12 and folate levels were restored through supplementation. If your low blood pressure is accompanied by fatigue, numbness or tingling in your hands and feet, or a sore tongue, a simple blood test can check for these deficiencies.
When Lifestyle Changes Aren’t Enough
If you’ve tried increasing fluids, salt, and adjusting your habits but still have symptoms, prescription medications are available. The two most commonly prescribed work in different ways: one helps your body retain salt and water to expand blood volume, and the other tightens blood vessels directly to increase pressure. Both are taken as daily pills, and your doctor will typically start at a low dose and increase gradually based on how your blood pressure responds and whether side effects like swelling in the feet develop.
Medication is generally reserved for people whose low blood pressure significantly affects daily life, particularly those who experience frequent near-fainting or falls. For most people with mildly low blood pressure, the combination of more water, more salt, smaller meals, and smarter exercise is enough to keep symptoms at bay.