If your blood pressure is consistently below 90/60 mmHg and causing symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, or fainting, there are several proven ways to bring it up. The strategies range from immediate physical techniques that work in seconds to dietary and lifestyle changes that raise your baseline over time.
Drink More Fluids and Increase Salt
The two most effective everyday changes are drinking more water and eating more salt. Both work by increasing your blood volume, which directly raises pressure against your artery walls. Aim for 2 to 2.5 liters of fluid per day to offset normal urinary losses. That’s roughly 8 to 10 glasses, and you may need more in hot weather or after exercise.
Salt recommendations for people with symptomatic low blood pressure are significantly higher than what the general population is told to eat. Guidelines from the American Society of Hypertension suggest 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium per day for people with orthostatic hypotension (the kind that hits when you stand up). Some specialists recommend even more, up to 4,800 mg daily, for conditions like POTS. For context, the typical dietary advice for healthy adults caps sodium at 2,300 mg. If your doctor has confirmed low blood pressure is your problem, adding salt to meals, eating pickles or olives, or drinking broth are simple ways to increase your intake. A practical approach is to add 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to each of your three daily meals.
Quick Physical Techniques for Immediate Relief
When you feel lightheaded or sense your blood pressure dropping, specific muscle-tensing maneuvers can push blood back toward your heart and brain within seconds. The American Heart Association recommends several of these:
- Leg crossing with muscle tensing: Cross your legs at the ankles and squeeze your leg, abdominal, and buttock muscles. You can do this standing or lying down.
- Squatting: Lower yourself into a full squat, which compresses the blood vessels in your legs and forces blood upward. Tense your lower body and abdomen while squatting, then stand slowly once symptoms pass.
- Arm tensing: Grip your hands together, interlocking your fingers, and pull your arms in opposite directions as hard as you can. Alternatively, clench your fist at maximum force around a small object like a stress ball.
These aren’t long-term fixes, but they’re genuinely useful when you feel a dizzy spell coming on or need to stay upright in a situation where sitting down isn’t an option.
Change How You Move and Stand
Many people with low blood pressure notice their worst symptoms right after standing up. A few habit changes can reduce those drops significantly. When getting out of bed, sit at the edge for a full minute before standing. When rising from a chair, especially after sitting for a while or getting off the toilet, push up gradually rather than popping straight to your feet.
Avoid standing in one place for long stretches. If you have to, do ankle pumps (rocking from heel to toe) and cross and uncross your legs periodically. These small movements keep blood from pooling in your lower body. Prolonged sitting can cause similar pooling, so shifting positions regularly helps there too.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings or abdominal binders squeeze blood out of your lower body and back toward your core. Johns Hopkins Medicine recommends starting with 20 to 30 mmHg compression stockings. If those feel too tight or are hard to pull on, try 15 to 20 mmHg. If they don’t feel like enough, you can go up to 30 to 40 mmHg, though higher-pressure garments can be tough to get on, especially if your joints are flexible or hypermobile.
Thigh-high or waist-high stockings work better than knee-high ones because they cover more vascular territory. Abdominal compression binders are another option and can be easier to wear in warm weather than full-leg stockings.
Eat Smaller, Lower-Carb Meals
Blood pressure naturally dips after eating because your body diverts blood flow to your digestive system. Large meals, particularly ones heavy in refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, or sugary foods, cause a bigger drop. Eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day reduces this effect. Shifting toward meals with more protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates helps keep your blood pressure steadier after eating.
Medications for Persistent Low Blood Pressure
When lifestyle changes aren’t enough, two medications are commonly prescribed. Fludrocortisone works by helping your body retain more sodium and water, which increases blood volume. Midodrine takes a different approach: it tightens your blood vessels so they hold pressure better, specifically improving blood pressure when you’re standing.
Both are typically reserved for people with ongoing orthostatic hypotension that significantly affects daily life. Your doctor would determine which is appropriate based on the pattern and severity of your symptoms.
Symptoms That Need Urgent Attention
Low blood pressure is often harmless, especially if you’ve always run on the lower side. But a sudden drop, particularly one accompanied by confusion, cold or clammy skin, rapid shallow breathing, or a weak and fast pulse, can signal something serious like internal bleeding, severe dehydration, or an allergic reaction. Fainting and not quickly recovering, or blood pressure that drops sharply after starting a new medication, also warrants immediate medical evaluation. The goal of raising blood pressure at home applies to chronic, stable low readings, not acute emergencies.