If your blood pressure runs low, several straightforward strategies can bring it up: increasing salt and fluid intake, wearing compression garments, adjusting how and when you eat, and using specific body movements when you feel lightheaded. Low blood pressure is generally defined as a reading below 90/60 mmHg, and while it’s harmless for many people, it can cause dizziness, fainting, and fatigue when it drops too far.
Increase Your Salt Intake
Salt is one of the most effective tools for raising blood pressure because sodium pulls water into your bloodstream, increasing blood volume. For people with conditions like orthostatic hypotension (where blood pressure drops when you stand up), medical guidelines recommend significantly more salt than the average person consumes. The American Society of Hypertension suggests 6,000 to 10,000 mg of salt per day for these patients, which translates to roughly 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium. Some specialists push even higher, up to 20,000 mg of salt daily for more severe cases.
A practical approach is adding 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to your diet three times per day. One study found that patients who added about 2,400 mg of supplemental sodium daily for two months showed meaningful improvements in their ability to tolerate standing, along with better blood vessel function and brain blood flow regulation. You can increase sodium through saltier foods, adding table salt to meals, or using salt tablets if your doctor recommends them. Broth, pickles, olives, and salted nuts are easy dietary sources.
Drink More Fluids
Dehydration is one of the most common and fixable causes of low blood pressure. When your blood volume drops, there’s simply less fluid pushing against your artery walls. Sodium and chloride, the two components of table salt, both help your body hold onto water rather than flushing it out through your kidneys. This is why salt and fluid work best as a pair.
A good starting point is 2 to 3 liters of water per day, though the right amount depends on your size, activity level, and climate. Drinking a full glass of water before standing up in the morning can help prevent that first-thing lightheadedness many people with low blood pressure experience.
Caffeine for a Quick Boost
Coffee and other caffeinated drinks can raise blood pressure in the short term. The effect is most noticeable if you don’t drink caffeine regularly. Your blood pressure may rise by about 5 to 10 points within 30 to 120 minutes of drinking a caffeinated beverage. For people who are sensitive to caffeine, this can be a useful tool before activities that tend to trigger symptoms, like prolonged standing. Regular caffeine drinkers develop some tolerance to this effect, so it becomes less reliable over time.
Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals
Large meals can cause a significant drop in blood pressure, a condition called postprandial hypotension. Here’s why: after you eat, your body diverts blood to your digestive system. Normally, your heart rate increases and your blood vessels tighten elsewhere to compensate. But if those responses don’t kick in strongly enough, your blood pressure falls. Big, carbohydrate-heavy meals make this worse because they demand more blood flow to the gut.
Switching from three large meals to six smaller ones throughout the day reduces the amount of blood your digestive system needs at any one time. Cutting back on refined carbohydrates at each meal also helps, since they trigger a larger digestive response than protein or fat.
Physical Maneuvers That Work Fast
When you feel lightheaded or sense a fainting spell coming on, specific muscle-tensing movements can raise your blood pressure within seconds by squeezing blood from your legs and abdomen back toward your heart and brain.
- Leg crossing with muscle tensing: Cross your legs while standing and tense your leg, abdominal, and buttock muscles simultaneously.
- Handgrip: Squeeze a rubber ball or any available object as hard as you can in your dominant hand.
- Arm tensing: Grip one hand with the other and try to pull your arms apart, contracting both arms at once.
These counterpressure maneuvers have been shown in clinical trials to effectively raise blood pressure and prevent or abort fainting episodes. They’re most useful as an immediate response when you feel warning signs like tunnel vision, nausea, or sudden warmth.
Compression Garments
Compression stockings and abdominal binders work by preventing blood from pooling in your legs and abdomen, which is a major cause of blood pressure drops when you stand. Thigh-high compression stockings rated at 23 to 32 mmHg of pressure are the standard recommendation for orthostatic hypotension. Waist-high versions or pairing knee-high stockings with an elastic abdominal belt provides additional benefit, since a surprising amount of blood pools in the abdomen rather than just the legs.
These garments are most helpful when you’re on your feet for extended periods. Many people find them uncomfortable in warm weather, so some opt for the abdominal binder alone, which is less noticeable under clothing and still provides meaningful support.
Elevate the Head of Your Bed
Sleeping with the head of your bed raised about 10 degrees, roughly a 9-inch elevation, can help your body better regulate blood pressure in the morning. This works by training your nervous system and kidneys to retain more fluid overnight. Flat sleeping allows your body to shed sodium and water during the night, which means you wake up with lower blood volume and a sharper blood pressure drop when you first stand. Raising just the head end of the bed (not propping up with pillows, which bends at the waist) counteracts this cycle.
Medications for Persistent Low Blood Pressure
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, doctors may prescribe medication. The most commonly used option tightens blood vessels throughout the body, increasing the resistance that blood flows against and raising pressure as a result. It’s typically taken two to three times daily and is timed to cover the hours when you’re most active and upright. Another medication helps your kidneys retain sodium and water, expanding your blood volume from the inside.
These medications are generally reserved for people whose low blood pressure significantly affects daily life, causing frequent dizziness, falls, or an inability to stand for normal activities. They work best alongside the dietary and lifestyle strategies above rather than as replacements for them.
Symptoms That Need Urgent Attention
Mild, occasional lightheadedness from low blood pressure is common and usually manageable with the strategies above. But certain symptoms suggest your blood pressure has dropped to a dangerous level: confusion, cold or clammy skin, rapid shallow breathing, a weak and rapid pulse, or bluish skin discoloration. These can signal shock, which is a medical emergency. Fainting that happens without warning signs, repeated falls, or blood pressure drops accompanied by chest pain or severe headache also warrant immediate medical evaluation.