Low blood pressure, generally defined as a reading below 90/60 mmHg, often responds well to a combination of simple daily habits: drinking more fluids, increasing salt intake, wearing compression garments, and learning a few physical techniques for moments when dizziness hits. Some people have chronically low blood pressure with no symptoms at all, which typically needs no treatment. But if you’re feeling lightheaded, fatigued, or unsteady, there are concrete steps you can take.
Drink Enough Fluids to Maintain Blood Volume
Low blood volume is one of the most straightforward reasons blood pressure drops, and dehydration makes it worse. Clinical guidelines recommend roughly 25 to 30 milliliters of water per kilogram of body weight per day. For a 150-pound person, that works out to about 1.7 to 2 liters daily, or roughly 57 to 68 ounces. If you’re active, in hot weather, or taking a diuretic, you’ll need more.
Plain water helps, but fluids with electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) are more effective at holding water in your bloodstream rather than passing straight through. Sports drinks, oral rehydration solutions, or even adding a pinch of salt to your water can make a difference. Drinking a full glass of water 15 to 30 minutes before standing up in the morning is a particularly useful habit if you tend to feel dizzy first thing.
Increase Your Salt Intake
Unlike people managing high blood pressure, you may actually benefit from eating more sodium. Guidelines from multiple cardiology organizations recommend between 2,400 and 4,000 milligrams of sodium per day for people with orthostatic hypotension (the kind that hits when you stand up). Some experts recommend even higher amounts, up to 4,800 milligrams daily, for conditions like POTS, a disorder involving heart rate and blood pressure regulation upon standing.
For context, the average American already consumes about 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day. If your levels are on the lower end, a practical approach is to add 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams of sodium to your diet spread across three meals. You can do this through saltier foods like olives, pickles, broth, and cheese, or through salt tablets if your doctor recommends them. This strategy works because sodium helps your body retain water, which increases blood volume and raises pressure.
Physical Techniques for Dizzy Spells
When you feel lightheaded or sense a dip in blood pressure, specific muscle-tensing maneuvers can push blood back toward your heart and brain within seconds. These are well-studied counter-pressure techniques recommended by the Cleveland Clinic and other major centers.
- Leg crossing: Cross one leg over the other and squeeze the muscles in your legs, abdomen, and buttocks. Hold until your symptoms pass.
- Arm tensing: Grip one hand with the other and pull them against each other without letting go. This full-body tension raises blood pressure quickly.
- Hand grip: Squeeze a rubber ball (or your fist) in your dominant hand for as long as you can or until the dizziness fades.
These techniques are especially useful when you can’t sit down immediately, like in a grocery store line or at a bus stop. They’re not a long-term fix, but they can prevent a faint.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings and abdominal binders work by preventing blood from pooling in your legs and abdomen, which is the main trigger for blood pressure drops when you stand. Johns Hopkins Medicine recommends starting with 20 to 30 mmHg compression stockings. If those feel too tight or hard to put on, step down to 15 to 20 mmHg. If they don’t feel like enough, 30 to 40 mmHg is the next level up.
Waist-high stockings are more effective than knee-high ones because they compress a larger area. For abdominal compression, firm shapewear works well. The combination of leg and abdominal compression together is more effective than either alone. Put them on before getting out of bed in the morning, since that’s when blood pooling is most likely to cause trouble.
Adjust How and When You Eat
Blood pressure naturally drops after meals as your body diverts blood to your digestive system. This is called postprandial hypotension, and it’s especially common in older adults. Large, carbohydrate-heavy meals cause the biggest drops.
The fix is straightforward: eat six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three large ones, and keep carbohydrates moderate at each sitting. A plate built around protein, healthy fats, and non-starchy vegetables will cause less of a post-meal dip than pasta, bread, or rice-heavy meals. Lying down or resting for 15 to 30 minutes after eating can also help if your symptoms are mainly post-meal. If dietary changes alone don’t control post-meal drops, some doctors prescribe a medication taken before carbohydrate-heavy meals that slows sugar absorption and blunts the blood pressure drop.
Check Whether Your Medications Are Contributing
A surprising number of common medications can lower blood pressure as a side effect. If your symptoms started or worsened after beginning a new medication, that’s worth investigating. The major categories include:
- Blood pressure and heart medications: Diuretics (water pills), beta-blockers, alpha-blockers, calcium channel blockers, and nitrates are all designed to lower blood pressure, and sometimes they overshoot.
- Antidepressants and psychiatric medications: Tricyclic antidepressants, MAO inhibitors, antipsychotics, and muscle relaxants can all cause blood pressure drops, particularly when standing.
- Pain medications: Opioids lower blood pressure. This is worth knowing if you’re on long-term pain management.
- Parkinson’s medications: Levodopa-carbidopa and bromocriptine are well-known contributors.
- Diabetes medications: SGLT2 inhibitors, a newer class of diabetes drugs, can cause blood pressure drops by increasing fluid loss through urine.
- Erectile dysfunction and urinary medications: Sildenafil (Viagra) and similar drugs dilate blood vessels, and bladder medications like oxybutynin can contribute as well.
Never stop a prescribed medication on your own, but if you recognize something on this list, bring it up with your prescriber. Sometimes a dose adjustment, timing change, or switch to a different drug in the same class resolves the problem.
When Low Blood Pressure Becomes an Emergency
Occasional lightheadedness from low blood pressure is uncomfortable but not dangerous. Shock is a different situation entirely. If you or someone around you develops cold, clammy skin that looks pale or ashen, a rapid pulse, rapid shallow breathing, confusion, or a bluish tinge to the lips or fingernails, that’s a medical emergency. These signs mean blood pressure has dropped so low that organs aren’t getting enough oxygen. Call emergency services immediately.
While waiting for help, have the person lie down with their legs elevated above heart level if possible. Keep them warm with a blanket. Do not give them anything to eat or drink if they’re confused or losing consciousness.
When Lifestyle Changes Aren’t Enough
If you’ve tried increasing fluids, salt, and compression and you’re still symptomatic, prescription medications can help. The first-line option for orthostatic hypotension is a synthetic hormone that helps your kidneys retain sodium and water, expanding blood volume. Another common option works by tightening blood vessels, which directly raises standing blood pressure and improves symptoms. A third medication improves nerve signaling in the autonomic nervous system, which controls blood pressure regulation.
These medications are typically reserved for people whose symptoms interfere with daily life and who haven’t responded to the non-drug strategies above. Your doctor will likely want to confirm the pattern with blood pressure readings taken while lying down and again after standing for a few minutes, since the specific type of low blood pressure you have determines which treatment works best.