If your blood pressure consistently reads below 90/60 mmHg, several practical strategies can bring it up, from immediate physical techniques to longer-term dietary changes. Low blood pressure (hypotension) causes dizziness, lightheadedness, and fainting, and the right approach depends on whether you need a quick fix in the moment or a sustained increase over time.
Quick Physical Techniques That Work Immediately
When you feel dizzy or lightheaded from low blood pressure, specific muscle-tensing movements can raise your systolic pressure by roughly 15 mmHg within seconds. These work by physically compressing blood vessels in your working muscles, which pushes more blood back toward your heart and brain.
The most effective movements include:
- Squatting: Drop into a squat and, if needed, place your head between your knees (sometimes called the “crash position”). This is the fastest way to get blood flowing back to your brain.
- Leg crossing with tensing: While standing, cross your legs and squeeze your thigh and calf muscles together.
- Lower body tensing: Contract your abdomen, buttocks, and thighs simultaneously, even while sitting.
- Hand gripping and arm tensing: Clench your fists hard or grip one hand with the other and pull outward.
These techniques are especially useful when you’ve been standing for a while or feel a fainting episode coming on. They buy your body time to stabilize, but they’re a short-term fix, not a long-term solution.
Increase Your Salt Intake
For most health conditions, doctors recommend limiting sodium. Low blood pressure is the notable exception. Salt helps your body retain water, which expands your blood volume and pushes pressure higher.
The general population is told to stay under 2,300 mg of sodium per day. People with orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure that drops when standing) are often advised to consume 4,000 mg of sodium or more per day. For conditions like POTS (postural tachycardia syndrome), recommendations from the Heart Rhythm Society go as high as 4,000 to 4,800 mg of sodium daily. A common approach is adding 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to each of your three daily meals.
Practical ways to do this include salting your food more generously, eating broth-based soups, snacking on salted nuts or pretzels, or using electrolyte drinks. Some people find salt tablets more convenient. If you have kidney disease or heart failure, extra sodium can be harmful, so this strategy needs to match your overall health picture.
Drink More Water
Dehydration is one of the most common and easily fixable causes of low blood pressure. When your blood volume drops from not drinking enough, there simply isn’t enough fluid in your system to maintain adequate pressure. Aiming for 6 to 8 cups of water per day is a reasonable baseline, though people with chronic low blood pressure often need more, especially in hot weather or after exercise.
Drinking a full glass of water 15 to 30 minutes before standing up from a long rest can help prevent the dizzy spells that come with position changes. Pairing increased water intake with higher sodium intake is more effective than either strategy alone, because salt helps your body actually hold onto the extra fluid rather than just passing it through your kidneys.
Change How You Eat
Blood pressure naturally drops after meals as your body diverts blood to the digestive system. This is called postprandial hypotension, and it hits hardest after large, carbohydrate-heavy meals. If you notice dizziness or fatigue after eating, two changes can help: eat six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three large ones, and reduce the carbohydrate content of each meal. Swapping a big plate of pasta for a smaller portion with more protein and fat keeps your blood pressure more stable after eating.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings and abdominal binders physically squeeze blood out of your lower body and push it back toward your heart. This prevents blood from pooling in your legs when you stand, which is one of the main triggers for low blood pressure symptoms.
Start with stockings rated at 20 to 30 mmHg of pressure. This level provides noticeable benefit without being too difficult to put on. If that feels insufficient, 30 to 40 mmHg stockings offer stronger compression, though they can be tough to pull on, particularly if you have flexible joints. Waist-high stockings work better than knee-high ones because they cover more vascular territory. Abdominal compression binders add further benefit by preventing blood from pooling in the large veins of your abdomen.
Move Carefully Between Positions
One of the simplest ways to prevent blood pressure drops is to slow down your transitions from lying to standing. A technique called “dangling” involves sitting on the edge of the bed with your legs hanging over the side for a minute or two before standing. While sitting there, pump your feet and wiggle your legs to activate the muscle pumps in your calves. This gives your cardiovascular system time to adjust to the position change instead of forcing it to compensate all at once.
After sleeping all night, your blood pressure is at its lowest. Making dangling a habit every morning can significantly reduce that rush of dizziness when you first get out of bed.
Medications for Chronic Low Blood Pressure
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, prescription medications can help. The two most commonly prescribed options work in different ways. One helps your kidneys retain sodium and water, expanding your overall fluid volume. The other tightens blood vessels directly, raising pressure mechanically. Both are typically prescribed for orthostatic hypotension that hasn’t responded to increased fluids, salt, and compression.
These medications require monitoring because raising blood pressure too much, especially while lying down, creates its own risks. Most people start on a low dose that gets adjusted gradually over several weeks based on how their blood pressure responds in different positions throughout the day.
Caffeine as a Short-Term Boost
A cup of coffee or tea can temporarily raise blood pressure by narrowing blood vessels and increasing heart rate. This effect is most pronounced in people who don’t drink caffeine regularly. If you notice symptoms tend to be worse after meals, having coffee with or right after eating can help offset the post-meal blood pressure dip. The effect wears off within a few hours, so caffeine works best as a targeted tool rather than a primary strategy.