Swollen feet usually improve with a combination of movement, elevation, and reducing salt intake. The swelling happens when fluid leaks out of tiny blood vessels and pools in the tissue around your feet and ankles, often because gravity has been working against you all day. Most cases respond well to simple strategies you can start right now, but the approach that works best depends on what’s driving the swelling in the first place.
Why Feet Swell in the First Place
Your blood vessels constantly balance two opposing forces: pressure that pushes fluid out into surrounding tissue and proteins (mainly one called albumin) that pull fluid back in. When that balance tips, fluid accumulates. Gravity makes the feet and ankles the lowest point in your body when you’re upright, so that’s where excess fluid settles first.
Several things can tip that balance. Sitting or standing for hours raises the pressure inside leg veins, forcing more fluid out. Eating a lot of salt triggers your kidneys to hold onto water, expanding your blood volume and increasing that pressure further. Certain medications, including some blood pressure drugs, anti-inflammatory painkillers, and diabetes medications, can cause swelling by widening blood vessels, increasing their permeability, or prompting the kidneys to retain fluid. Hormonal shifts during pregnancy or before a menstrual period do something similar. In each case, the lymphatic system, which normally drains excess fluid back into circulation, can’t keep up.
Elevate Your Legs at the Right Height
Elevation is the fastest way to get fluid moving out of swollen feet. Lying down and propping your legs above heart level lets gravity work in your favor for a change. Research comparing different angles found that elevating the legs to about 30 degrees while lying on your back for 15 to 30 minutes is both effective and comfortable for most people. Steeper angles (up to 90 degrees) can also reduce swelling, but they’re harder to maintain and don’t offer enough additional benefit to be worth the discomfort.
In practical terms, 30 degrees means stacking two or three firm pillows under your calves while lying flat, or resting your legs on the arm of a couch. Do this for at least 15 minutes, and aim for two to three sessions throughout the day if swelling is persistent. The key is getting your feet genuinely above your heart, not just resting them on a low footstool while sitting upright.
Activate Your Calf Muscles
Your calf muscles act as a pump for your veins. Every time they contract, they squeeze blood upward toward your heart and pull fluid out of the surrounding tissue. When you sit or stand without moving, that pump shuts off, and fluid pools. In one study, roughly two out of five women accumulated significant fluid in their lower legs during just 30 minutes of quiet sitting. When the calf muscle pump was activated, that pooling reversed entirely.
You don’t need a gym session to turn the pump on. Simple ankle pumps (pointing your toes down, then pulling them up toward your shin) done repeatedly while seated are enough to engage the muscles. Calf raises, where you stand and lift onto your toes, then slowly lower back down, are even more effective. Try 15 to 20 repetitions every 30 minutes if you’re stuck at a desk or on a long flight. Walking, even a short loop around your office or cabin, activates the pump with every step.
Wear Compression Stockings
Compression stockings apply graduated pressure to your lower legs, tightest at the ankle and loosening toward the knee. This external pressure counteracts the force that pushes fluid into your tissues and supports the calf muscle pump even when you’re not actively moving. The 2025 clinical guidelines for chronic venous disease list compression therapy as a first-line treatment alongside lifestyle changes.
For everyday swelling from prolonged sitting or standing, stockings in the 15 to 20 mmHg range are a good starting point. Studies show that even lighter pressure (10 to 15 mmHg) can prevent occupational swelling from forming in the first place. If you sit for most of your workday, stepping up to 20 to 30 mmHg stockings provides a noticeably greater reduction. Knee-length stockings are sufficient for foot and ankle swelling; you don’t need thigh-high versions unless a provider recommends them.
Put compression stockings on first thing in the morning before swelling has a chance to develop. If your feet are already swollen, elevate your legs for 15 minutes first, then put them on. Stockings that are too tight at the top or that roll down can actually make swelling worse by creating a tourniquet effect, so proper sizing matters.
Cut Back on Sodium
Sodium tells your kidneys to hold onto water. The more sodium in your bloodstream, the more fluid your body retains, and the more pressure builds inside your blood vessels. Reducing sodium intake is one of the most reliable ways to lower baseline fluid retention.
The American Heart Association recommends keeping sodium below 1,500 mg per day for the general population. For context, one teaspoon of table salt contains about 2,300 mg, and the average American consumes over 3,400 mg daily. Most of that sodium comes not from the salt shaker but from packaged foods, restaurant meals, bread, deli meats, canned soups, and condiments. Reading nutrition labels and choosing low-sodium versions of staples you eat regularly can make a meaningful dent without overhauling your entire diet.
Potassium-rich foods like bananas, sweet potatoes, and leafy greens help your kidneys excrete excess sodium, which supports the effort from the other direction. Staying well hydrated also helps. It sounds counterintuitive, but drinking enough water signals your body that it doesn’t need to hoard fluid.
Other Strategies That Help
Excess body weight increases the pressure on veins in your legs and pelvis, making it harder for blood to return to the heart. Losing even a modest amount of weight can noticeably reduce chronic swelling, which is why weight management appears alongside compression in current clinical guidelines for venous disease.
Heat makes swelling worse. Hot baths, saunas, and prolonged sun exposure all dilate blood vessels and increase fluid leakage into tissue. If your feet tend to swell, cool or lukewarm water is a better choice. Some people find that soaking swollen feet in cool water with Epsom salt provides temporary relief, though the benefit comes more from the cool temperature and the elevation while sitting than from the salt itself.
Tight clothing around the waist, thighs, or calves can restrict venous return and trap fluid below the constriction. Loose-fitting pants and avoiding socks with tight elastic bands at the top can make a difference if you’re prone to swelling.
When Swelling Signals Something Serious
Swelling in both feet that develops gradually and worsens over weeks is most commonly caused by venous insufficiency, a condition where the valves in your leg veins weaken and allow blood to pool. It’s the single most common cause of lower-leg swelling and typically responds well to the strategies above.
Swelling in just one foot or leg is a different situation. If it comes on suddenly with pain, warmth, or redness, it could indicate a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis), which needs urgent medical evaluation. Chronic one-sided swelling more often points to venous insufficiency on that side or a problem with lymphatic drainage, but it still warrants investigation.
Bilateral swelling that comes with shortness of breath, rapid weight gain (several pounds in a few days), or swelling that extends well above the ankles can signal heart, kidney, or liver problems. These organs all play roles in regulating fluid balance, and when they struggle, fluid backs up into the tissues. If you’re noticing swelling that doesn’t improve with elevation and movement, or that’s accompanied by any of these symptoms, that pattern points toward something beyond simple gravity-related pooling.
Some medications are also common culprits. Calcium channel blockers (a type of blood pressure drug), certain diabetes medications, steroids, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen can all cause foot swelling through different mechanisms. If your swelling started or worsened after beginning a new medication, that connection is worth discussing with whoever prescribed it.