Blood pressure below 90/60 mmHg is generally considered low, and if you’re feeling symptoms like dizziness, lightheadedness, or faintness, there are several things you can do right away to bring it back up. Some people naturally run low without problems, so the real concern is when low readings come with symptoms that affect your daily life or signal something more serious.
What to Do Right Now
If you feel your blood pressure dropping and think you might faint, the most important thing is to change your position. Go from standing to sitting, or from sitting to lying down. When you’re horizontal, your blood vessels don’t have to fight gravity to move blood to your brain, which gives you an immediate bump in pressure. Even if you don’t faint, getting low to the ground means you won’t fall and hurt yourself if you do pass out.
If you can’t lie down, there are a few muscle-tensing tricks that work surprisingly well. Cross your legs while standing and squeeze all the muscles in your legs, abdomen, and buttocks as hard as you can. Hold it until you feel better. You can also squeeze a stress ball (or just make a tight fist) in your dominant hand, or interlace your fingers and try to pull your hands apart while tensing your arms. These movements push blood from your limbs back toward your heart and brain, raising your pressure temporarily.
Drink water. This sounds simple, but research from the American Heart Association found that drinking 16 ounces of water can raise systolic blood pressure by more than 30 mmHg in people with orthostatic hypotension (the kind that hits when you stand up). Keep a water bottle nearby, especially if you tend to get dizzy after standing.
Common Symptoms to Recognize
Low blood pressure doesn’t always cause noticeable problems. When it does, the typical signs include dizziness or lightheadedness, blurred vision, nausea, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating. Some people feel faint or unsteady, particularly after standing up quickly, exercising, or eating a large meal. Cold, clammy, or pale skin can also appear during a significant drop.
The symptoms that signal a true emergency are confusion, rapid shallow breathing, a weak and fast pulse, and cold or bluish skin. These can indicate shock, which means your organs aren’t getting enough blood. If someone shows these signs, they need emergency medical care immediately.
Why Your Blood Pressure May Be Low
Dehydration is one of the most common and fixable causes. When your body loses more fluid than it takes in (from heat, exercise, illness, or simply not drinking enough), your blood volume drops and so does your pressure. Low blood sugar can have a similar effect.
Several categories of medication can lower blood pressure as a side effect or even as their intended purpose:
- Blood pressure medications: All classes, including beta blockers and diuretics (water pills), can sometimes bring pressure down too far.
- Certain antidepressants: Particularly the older tricyclic type.
- Parkinson’s disease medications.
- Erectile dysfunction medications, especially when combined with heart medications containing nitroglycerin.
Alcohol also raises the risk of low blood pressure. If you’re on any of these medications and noticing symptoms, your dose may need adjusting.
Underlying medical conditions are another major factor. Heart problems like heart failure, heart valve disease, or a very slow heart rate can reduce the amount of blood your heart pumps. Hormonal conditions, particularly those affecting the adrenal glands, interfere with the body’s ability to regulate pressure. Diabetes can contribute through nerve damage and blood sugar swings. Pregnancy commonly causes low blood pressure in the first 24 weeks because blood vessels expand rapidly to support the growing baby.
Dietary Changes That Help
People with chronically low blood pressure are often advised to increase their salt intake. This is the opposite of what you hear in most health advice, but sodium helps your body hold onto water, which increases blood volume. If your blood pressure runs low, lightly salting your food or choosing saltier snacks can make a real difference. Talk to your doctor about how much is appropriate for your situation, since too much sodium creates its own problems.
If your blood pressure tends to drop after meals, you’re dealing with postprandial hypotension. This happens because digestion diverts a large amount of blood to your stomach and intestines. Two changes help the most: eating six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three large ones, and reducing the amount of carbohydrates in each meal. Large, carb-heavy meals cause the biggest post-meal drops.
Staying well hydrated throughout the day is just as important as what you eat. Aim to drink water consistently rather than catching up all at once. Having a glass of water before standing up or before meals can be particularly effective.
Longer-Term Lifestyle Adjustments
Compression stockings help prevent blood from pooling in your legs, which is a major contributor to orthostatic hypotension. Johns Hopkins Medicine recommends starting with 20 to 30 mmHg compression. If that feels too firm, you can try 15 to 20 mmHg. If it’s not enough, 30 to 40 mmHg stockings are available. Waist-high versions work best for blood pressure management because they cover the most territory, but even knee-high stockings make a difference.
How you move matters too. Get up slowly from sitting or lying down, especially first thing in the morning. Sit on the edge of the bed for a minute before standing. Avoid standing still for long periods; if you have to, shift your weight and flex your calves to keep blood moving. Crossing your legs while sitting can also help maintain pressure.
Avoid hot showers, baths, and saunas when possible. Heat causes blood vessels to dilate, which drops pressure further. If you enjoy hot showers, keep them short and have a chair nearby in case you feel unsteady. Eating a small amount before bathing can also help prevent a drop.
Caffeine can temporarily raise blood pressure, and some people with chronic low pressure find that a cup of coffee before situations that trigger symptoms (like a long morning walk) provides a helpful buffer. This works best if you don’t drink caffeine regularly, since the effect diminishes with daily use.
When Low Blood Pressure Needs Medical Attention
A single low reading without symptoms is rarely a concern. But if you’re consistently experiencing dizziness, fainting spells, or fatigue alongside low readings, something is driving the problem and it’s worth investigating. Older adults are at higher risk, particularly those with conditions affecting the autonomic nervous system (the part of your nervous system that controls automatic functions like heart rate and blood vessel tone).
If your symptoms started or worsened after beginning a new medication, that connection is worth raising with your prescriber. Many cases of persistent low blood pressure resolve with a simple dose adjustment. If lifestyle changes like increasing fluids, salt, and compression aren’t enough, there are prescription options that can help raise blood pressure more reliably.