If your blood pressure consistently reads below 90/60 mmHg and you’re feeling dizzy, lightheaded, or fatigued, there are several practical ways to bring it up. Some work within minutes, others over days or weeks. The right approach depends on whether you need a quick fix for a dizzy spell or a longer-term strategy for chronically low readings.
Drink More Water, and Drink It Quickly
One of the simplest ways to raise blood pressure is drinking a tall glass of water. Research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation found that drinking about 16 ounces (480 mL) of water raised systolic blood pressure by 11 mmHg in older adults within 30 to 35 minutes. Drinking a smaller amount (about 8 ounces) produced a smaller effect. Interestingly, this isn’t because water expands your blood volume. The pressor response appears to be driven by your nervous system reacting to the water hitting your stomach.
For people with autonomic nervous system disorders, the effect was even more dramatic, with systolic pressure jumping by 33 to 37 mmHg. If you tend to feel faint after standing or in the morning, drinking 16 ounces of water about 15 to 30 minutes before getting up can blunt the drop. Spreading water intake throughout the day, aiming for 2 to 3 liters total, helps maintain adequate blood volume over time.
Increase Your Salt Intake
This is one case where the usual “eat less salt” advice gets flipped. For people with low blood pressure, medical guidelines from the American Society of Hypertension recommend 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium per day, well above the 2,300 mg limit suggested for the general population. For orthostatic hypotension (the kind where you get dizzy standing up), some specialists recommend going even higher, up to 4,000 to 8,000 mg of sodium daily.
The Canadian Cardiovascular Society recommends about 4,000 mg of sodium per day for people with orthostatic disorders. One study found that adding roughly 2,400 mg of supplemental sodium per day for two months improved both blood vessel function and the ability to tolerate standing in people who had been fainting. A practical way to do this: add 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to your diet at each meal through salted foods, broth, pickles, olives, or salt tablets. If you have kidney disease or heart failure, this approach needs medical supervision.
Physical Maneuvers That Work in Seconds
When you feel a dizzy spell coming on, certain body positions can push your blood pressure up quickly by squeezing blood from your legs and abdomen back toward your heart and brain. The American Heart Association recommends these specific techniques:
- Cross your legs and squeeze. While standing or lying down, cross your legs and tense your leg, abdominal, and buttock muscles simultaneously. Hold the tension for as long as you can.
- Squat down. Lowering into a full squat compresses the blood vessels in your legs and forces blood upward. Tense your lower body and abdominal muscles while squatting, then stand slowly once you feel better.
- Grip and pull. Hook your fingers together in front of your chest and pull your arms in opposite directions with maximum force. This tenses your upper body and temporarily raises blood pressure.
- Clench your fist. Make a tight fist, with or without a small object in your hand, and squeeze at maximum effort for several seconds.
These are genuinely effective in the moment, not just placebo. They work by activating large muscle groups, which compresses veins and increases the amount of blood returning to your heart. Think of them as emergency tools for when you feel lightheaded in a grocery store line or after standing up too fast.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings prevent blood from pooling in your legs when you stand. For low blood pressure, thigh-high stockings rated at 23 to 32 mmHg of pressure are the type studied in clinical settings and recommended by neurologists. Knee-high stockings are easier to wear but less effective because a large portion of blood pools in the thighs.
Abdominal compression binders work on the same principle, squeezing the large blood vessels in your abdomen to keep more blood circulating toward your brain. Some people combine both. The key is putting them on before you get out of bed in the morning, since that’s when blood pressure is typically at its lowest.
Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals
Blood pressure commonly drops one to two hours after eating, a condition called postprandial hypotension. This happens because your body diverts blood flow to your digestive system. Large meals, especially those heavy in carbohydrates, produce the biggest drops. Eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day reduces this effect. Drinking water with your meal and limiting refined carbohydrates (white bread, pasta, sugary foods) also help keep your pressure more stable after eating.
Adjust How You Sleep and Stand
Elevating the head of your bed by 10 to 20 degrees (about 4 to 6 inches using blocks under the bed frame, not just extra pillows) helps your body retain fluid overnight and reduces the sharp blood pressure drop that happens when you first stand up in the morning. This works by keeping your kidneys from flushing out as much sodium and water while you sleep.
When you get out of bed, do it in stages. Sit on the edge of the bed for a minute or two. Flex your feet and tense your legs before standing. Then rise slowly. Rushing from lying flat to standing is the single most common trigger for orthostatic dizziness.
Medications for Persistent Low Blood Pressure
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, two types of medication are commonly prescribed. The first works by tightening blood vessels directly, which raises blood pressure within an hour of taking it. The second is a low-dose steroid that helps your kidneys hold onto sodium and water, expanding your blood volume over days to weeks. It also makes your blood vessels more responsive to the signals that keep them constricted. Typical starting doses are quite small, and your doctor will adjust based on how your blood pressure responds.
These medications are generally reserved for people whose low blood pressure significantly affects daily life, causing repeated fainting, falls, or inability to stand for normal activities. They come with trade-offs: the vessel-constricting type can raise blood pressure too much when you’re lying down, and the volume-expanding type requires monitoring your potassium levels.
When Low Blood Pressure Is Dangerous
Low blood pressure without symptoms is usually harmless. Many healthy people walk around with readings below 90/60 and feel perfectly fine. The concern starts when low pressure causes noticeable symptoms: dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, fatigue, or difficulty concentrating.
Certain patterns deserve urgent attention. Fainting or near-fainting, especially if it leads to falls. Rapid or shallow breathing paired with cold, clammy skin. Confusion or inability to focus. These can signal that your organs aren’t getting enough blood flow. A sudden, large drop in blood pressure (rather than a chronically low reading) is more likely to be dangerous, as it can indicate internal bleeding, severe dehydration, a serious infection, or an allergic reaction.
Orthostatic hypotension is specifically defined as a drop of 20 mmHg or more in the top number, or 10 mmHg or more in the bottom number, within three minutes of standing. A brief, small dip when you stand is completely normal. It’s the sustained drop that causes problems and warrants investigation.