If your blood pressure consistently reads below 90/60 mmHg and you’re experiencing dizziness, fatigue, or fainting, there are several proven ways to bring it up. The approach depends on whether you need a quick fix in the moment or a longer-term strategy, but most people can make meaningful improvements through a combination of dietary changes, hydration, physical techniques, and sometimes medication.
Increase Your Salt and Water Intake
Salt is the single most effective dietary tool for raising blood pressure. Sodium pulls water into your bloodstream, expanding blood volume and pushing pressure higher. For people with chronically low blood pressure, clinical guidelines recommend 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium per day, which is roughly 6,000 to 10,000 mg of table salt. That’s significantly more than the 2,300 mg sodium limit recommended for the general population. Some specialists recommend even higher amounts for specific conditions like postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), where salt intake targets can reach 4,000 to 4,800 mg of sodium daily.
A practical way to increase your intake: add 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to each of your three daily meals. Salty snacks, broth, pickles, olives, and salted nuts all help. Some people find salt tablets easier than trying to eat enough salty food.
Water matters just as much. Aim for 2 to 3 liters per day to give your body enough fluid to work with. Salt without adequate water won’t expand blood volume effectively, and dehydration on its own is one of the most common causes of low blood pressure. Drinking a large glass of water (about 500 mL) can produce a noticeable blood pressure increase within 15 to 20 minutes, making it a useful quick strategy before standing up in the morning.
Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals
Blood pressure often drops after eating, especially after large meals. This happens because your body diverts blood flow to the digestive system, leaving less circulating volume to maintain pressure elsewhere. Smaller meals reduce this effect by slowing stomach emptying, which triggers a roughly 200% increase in the nervous system signals that keep blood vessels constricted. The key is keeping the stomach moderately full rather than overly distended, so eating four to six smaller meals throughout the day works better than two or three large ones. Drinking water with meals adds to this protective effect.
Physical Maneuvers That Work Immediately
When you feel lightheaded or sense your blood pressure dropping, specific body movements can raise your systolic pressure by about 15 mmHg within seconds. These work by squeezing blood out of your leg and abdominal veins and pushing it back toward your heart.
- Leg crossing with tensing: Cross your legs at the ankles while standing and squeeze your thigh, buttock, and abdominal muscles simultaneously.
- Squatting: Drop into a full squat. This is one of the most effective maneuvers and can restore blood pressure quickly if you feel faint.
- Crash position: Squat down and place your head between your knees. This combines the benefits of squatting with increased blood flow to the brain.
- Hand gripping: Squeeze a ball or make a tight fist repeatedly for 30 seconds or more.
- Calf raises and marching in place: Repeatedly rising onto your toes or marching activates the muscle pump in your lower legs.
These techniques are especially useful first thing in the morning, after standing up from a chair, or in hot environments where blood pressure tends to drop.
Compression Garments
Compression stockings prevent blood from pooling in your legs when you stand. The most effective versions apply graduated pressure, with the tightest compression at the ankle and decreasing pressure moving up toward the thigh. Waist-high stockings or abdominal binders tend to work better than knee-high options because they cover more vascular territory. Putting them on before you get out of bed in the morning gives you the most benefit, since blood pooling starts the moment you stand.
Adjust How You Sleep
Sleeping with the head of your bed elevated by about 9 inches (roughly a 10-degree angle) can reduce overnight blood pressure swings and make mornings less symptomatic. This slight incline trains your body to retain more fluid overnight by reducing the pressure signals that normally trigger nighttime urination. You can achieve this with a wedge pillow or by placing blocks under the head of your bed frame. Propping yourself up with regular pillows doesn’t work as well because it bends at the waist rather than tilting your whole body.
Caffeine as a Short-Term Boost
A cup of coffee or tea can raise blood pressure temporarily by constricting blood vessels. This effect is most pronounced if you don’t drink caffeine regularly, since tolerance develops quickly. Having a cup with breakfast or before situations where you know your blood pressure tends to drop (like a long period of standing) can provide a useful short-term boost. Avoid caffeine late in the day, as poor sleep worsens low blood pressure the following morning.
When Lifestyle Changes Aren’t Enough
If dietary and physical strategies don’t bring adequate relief, two types of prescription medications are commonly used. One type works by tightening blood vessels directly, which raises pressure within minutes and is typically taken before periods of prolonged standing. The other type helps your kidneys retain more sodium and water, gradually expanding blood volume over days to weeks. Both require careful dose adjustments because overshooting the target and causing high blood pressure is a real concern. Your doctor will likely start with the lowest effective dose and increase slowly based on your response.
Medication works best when layered on top of the lifestyle strategies above, not as a replacement. People who combine salt loading, hydration, compression garments, and physical maneuvers with medication consistently get better results than those who rely on any single approach.
Common Causes Worth Addressing
Before focusing entirely on raising your numbers, it’s worth identifying what’s pulling them down. Dehydration, prolonged bed rest, certain medications (especially blood pressure drugs, antidepressants, and prostate medications), and standing up too quickly are the most frequent culprits. If your low blood pressure started after beginning a new medication, that’s the first conversation to have with your prescriber. Sometimes the fix is as simple as adjusting the timing or dose of a drug you’re already taking.