If your blood pressure consistently reads below 90/60 mmHg and you’re feeling lightheaded, dizzy, or fatigued, there are several practical steps you can take to bring it up. Some work within minutes, others build over days and weeks. The right combination depends on what’s causing your pressure to drop.
Increase Your Salt and Fluid Intake
Salt is the most effective dietary tool for raising blood pressure because sodium pulls water into your bloodstream, increasing blood volume. Most health advice tells people to limit salt, but if you’re dealing with low blood pressure, the opposite applies. Guidelines for people with orthostatic disorders (blood pressure that drops when standing) recommend 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium per day, which is significantly more than the 2,300 mg ceiling most adults are told to follow. Some specialists recommend even higher amounts, up to 4,800 mg daily, for conditions like POTS. A practical approach is adding 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to your diet across three meals.
One study found that people who fainted from standing and then added roughly 2,400 mg of supplemental sodium per day saw meaningful improvements in their ability to tolerate position changes after just two months. You can increase sodium through salting your food more generously, eating broth-based soups, or using electrolyte drinks. Salt tablets are another option if food-based strategies aren’t enough.
Water matters just as much. Fluids directly increase blood volume, so dehydration is one of the fastest ways to make low blood pressure worse. There’s no single magic number for how much to drink, but aiming for at least 2 to 3 liters of water per day is a reasonable starting point. Pairing salt with water is key: salt without fluid just makes you thirsty, and fluid without salt gets filtered out by your kidneys quickly.
Use Caffeine Strategically
Caffeine raises both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, typically within 45 to 60 minutes of drinking it. A strong cup or two of coffee with breakfast can help you start the day at a higher baseline. The effect is temporary, lasting a few hours, so it works best as a morning boost or before activities where you know your blood pressure tends to drop.
One thing to watch: caffeine is a mild diuretic, so it can contribute to fluid loss. If you’re relying on it, make sure you’re drinking extra water alongside it.
Eat Smaller, Lower-Carb Meals
Blood pressure naturally dips after eating because your body redirects blood flow to your digestive system. Large meals make this worse. If you notice dizziness or fatigue after eating, try switching from three large meals to five or six smaller ones spread throughout the day.
The type of food matters too. Rapidly digested carbohydrates like white bread, white rice, potatoes, and sugary drinks move quickly from your stomach to your small intestine, triggering a sharper blood pressure drop. Replacing those with whole grains, beans, protein, and healthy fats slows digestion and keeps your blood pressure more stable after meals.
Try Physical Counter-Pressure Techniques
If you feel a dizzy spell coming on, specific muscle-tensing maneuvers can push blood pressure up within seconds. These work by squeezing blood from your large muscle groups back toward your heart and brain.
- Leg crossing: Cross one leg over the other and squeeze the muscles in your legs, abdomen, and buttocks. Hold until the lightheadedness passes.
- Arm tensing: Grip one hand with the other and pull them apart without letting go, creating an isometric tension through your arms and chest.
- Handgrip: Squeeze a rubber ball (or just make a tight fist) in your dominant hand for as long as you can.
These aren’t a long-term fix, but they’re effective in the moment. If you frequently feel faint when standing up from a chair or getting out of bed, crossing and tensing your legs before you rise can prevent that initial drop.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings prevent blood from pooling in your legs, which is one of the main reasons blood pressure drops when you stand. They work passively all day, making them one of the most practical interventions for people with chronically low blood pressure.
Start with 20 to 30 mmHg compression, which provides firm support without being too difficult to put on. If that level feels insufficient, 30 to 40 mmHg offers stronger compression but can be harder to manage, especially if you have flexible joints. Waist-high stockings or abdominal compression garments tend to work better than knee-high ones because they cover more of the area where blood pools. The key is wearing them consistently during the hours you’re upright.
Limit or Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol lowers blood pressure even in moderate amounts, and it specifically worsens the kind of drop that happens when you stand up. Research on healthy volunteers found that after drinking alcohol, the drop in systolic blood pressure during position changes was roughly double what it was after a placebo. The reason is that alcohol impairs your blood vessels’ ability to tighten in response to gravity pulling blood downward. If you’re already prone to low blood pressure, even a single drink can trigger dizziness or fainting. Cutting back or eliminating alcohol is one of the simplest high-impact changes you can make.
Change Positions Slowly
A drop of just 20 mmHg when you stand, say from 110 to 90 systolic, is enough to cause dizziness or fainting. This is called orthostatic hypotension, and it’s one of the most common forms of low blood pressure. You can minimize it with a few habits. Sit on the edge of your bed for 30 seconds before standing in the morning. When getting up from a chair, pause halfway. Avoid standing still for long periods, and if you have to, shift your weight, rise onto your toes, or use the leg-crossing technique described above.
Sleeping with the head of your bed elevated a few inches (using blocks under the bed frame, not extra pillows) can also help. This trains your body overnight to retain more sodium and fluid, making the transition to standing in the morning less dramatic.
When Low Blood Pressure Needs Attention
Occasional lightheadedness when you stand up too quickly is common and usually manageable with the strategies above. But if you’re experiencing repeated fainting episodes, persistent confusion, cold and clammy skin, or blood pressure readings that stay well below 90/60 even while resting, something more than lifestyle changes may be going on. Causes can range from medication side effects (blood pressure drugs, antidepressants, and prostate medications are frequent culprits) to heart conditions, hormonal imbalances, or significant dehydration from illness. Identifying and addressing the underlying cause is often the most effective way to bring your numbers up for good.