Low blood pressure, generally defined as a reading below 90/60 mmHg, doesn’t always need treatment. Many people run on the lower side without symptoms. But if you’re dealing with dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting, there are concrete steps you can take to bring your numbers up and keep them stable throughout the day.
Drink Water Strategically
One of the fastest ways to raise blood pressure is simply drinking water. About 480 mL (roughly 16 ounces, or two standard glasses) of water produces a measurable increase in blood pressure within five minutes, peaks around 30 to 35 minutes later, and holds for over an hour. Drinking that full amount works notably better than drinking half as much, so don’t sip slowly if you’re feeling symptomatic. Keep a water bottle nearby and aim for consistent intake throughout the day rather than catching up all at once.
Increase Your Salt Intake
For most health conditions, people are told to cut back on sodium. Low blood pressure is the opposite. Medical guidelines for people with orthostatic hypotension (the type where your blood pressure drops when you stand) recommend 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium per day, and some specialists push that to 4,000 to 4,800 mg for people with more severe symptoms. For context, the standard dietary recommendation for the general population is under 2,300 mg.
Practical ways to add sodium include salting your food more liberally, eating broth-based soups, snacking on salted nuts or olives, and adding electrolyte drinks to your routine. One study found that adding roughly 2,400 mg of supplemental sodium per day for two months improved both standing tolerance and blood flow regulation in people who were prone to fainting. If you have kidney disease or heart failure, though, extra sodium can cause problems, so this is worth discussing with your doctor first.
Use Physical Counter-Pressure Maneuvers
When you feel a dizzy spell coming on, certain body positions can buy you time by squeezing blood back toward your heart and brain. The American Heart Association recommends several techniques:
- Leg crossing with muscle tensing: Cross your legs and tighten your leg, abdominal, and buttock muscles. You can do this standing or lying down.
- Squatting: Lower yourself into a squat and tense your lower body and abdomen. Stay there until symptoms pass, then stand slowly.
- Arm tensing: Grip your hands together, interlocking fingers, and pull your arms in opposite directions with maximum force.
- Isometric handgrip: Clench your fist as hard as you can, with or without an object in your hand.
These aren’t just theoretical. They work by compressing blood vessels in your large muscle groups, which temporarily pushes blood volume upward. Squatting is especially effective in the moment because it also lowers your head closer to heart level.
Adjust How and What You Eat
Blood pressure commonly drops after meals as your body diverts blood flow to your digestive system. This is called postprandial hypotension, and it’s especially common in older adults. A few changes to your eating pattern can prevent it.
Eating six smaller meals instead of three large ones reduces the size of that blood-flow shift. Keeping meals low in carbohydrates also helps, since carbs trigger a larger digestive response than protein or fat. Drinking 12 to 16 ounces of water about 15 minutes before a meal primes your blood volume ahead of time. A cup of coffee or tea before breakfast or lunch can also provide a temporary boost, since caffeine constricts blood vessels.
Elevate the Head of Your Bed
Sleeping completely flat allows your body to flush out sodium and fluid overnight through your kidneys, which leaves you with lower blood volume by morning. That’s why many people with low blood pressure feel worst when they first get up. Tilting the head of your bed up by about 9 inches (roughly 10 degrees) counteracts this process. You can achieve this with bed risers under the headboard legs or a large wedge pillow. The key is elevating your entire upper body, not just propping your head up with regular pillows, which only bends your neck without changing the pressure dynamics.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings that reach the upper thigh, rated at 23 to 32 mmHg of pressure, help prevent blood from pooling in your legs when you stand. Abdominal binders serve a similar purpose for blood that pools in your midsection. These garments work best when combined with other strategies. The stockings need to be snug enough to actually compress your veins, so over-the-counter “support hose” from a pharmacy may not provide enough pressure. Medical-grade compression stockings from a medical supply store or through a prescription are more effective.
Check Your Medications
Low blood pressure is a side effect of a surprisingly long list of medications. Blood pressure drugs are the obvious culprit, including ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and diuretics (“water pills”). But many other drug classes also lower blood pressure: antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-anxiety medications, opioid pain relievers, muscle relaxants, and anti-nausea drugs. Diuretics can be especially problematic because they reduce blood volume directly by increasing urine output.
If you started a new medication and noticed dizziness or lightheadedness shortly after, that timing is worth reporting to your prescriber. Sometimes adjusting the dose, switching to a different drug, or changing when you take it during the day can resolve the issue without giving up the treatment.
When Low Blood Pressure Is an Emergency
Occasional mild dizziness when standing up quickly is common and usually manageable with the strategies above. But certain symptoms alongside low blood pressure signal something more serious: confusion or difficulty thinking clearly, cold and clammy skin, rapid shallow breathing, a weak and fast pulse, or fainting. These can indicate shock, severe dehydration, internal bleeding, or a serious infection. If you or someone else develops these symptoms, that’s a situation for emergency medical care, not home management.
Medications for Persistent Symptoms
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, two FDA-approved medications are available for orthostatic hypotension. One works by tightening blood vessels directly, and the other raises levels of a chemical messenger that increases blood pressure. Both are taken three times a day and adjusted gradually until symptoms improve. These are typically reserved for people whose blood pressure drops significantly on standing and who haven’t responded well to increased fluids, salt, compression, and the other non-drug approaches. Your doctor would start at a low dose and increase it based on how you respond.