When dizziness hits, the simplest immediate step is to lie down and wait for it to pass. But what you do next depends on why you’re dizzy in the first place. Dizziness can stem from inner-ear problems, blood pressure drops, low blood sugar, dehydration, or dozens of other causes, and each responds to different strategies. Here’s how to get relief both in the moment and over time.
What to Do During a Dizzy Spell
Lie down as soon as you safely can. If lying down isn’t possible, sit with your head between your knees or hold onto something stable. When the episode passes, get up slowly. Moving too quickly from lying to sitting, or sitting to standing, can trigger a second wave.
Fixing your gaze on a single stationary object helps your brain recalibrate. Your balance system relies on matching what your eyes see with what your inner ear senses, so giving your eyes a steady reference point reduces the conflict. Slow, deep breathing through the nose also helps by calming the vagus nerve, which connects your brain to your gut and plays a role in nausea and blood pressure regulation.
If you suspect low blood sugar is the cause (you haven’t eaten in hours, you feel shaky or sweaty), eat or drink something with fast-acting sugar. Blood sugar below 70 mg/dL is considered low and commonly causes dizziness, along with a racing heartbeat, confusion, and hunger. A few glucose tablets, a glass of juice, or a handful of candy can bring levels back up within 15 minutes.
Dizziness When Standing Up
If your dizziness strikes specifically when you go from sitting or lying to standing, a blood pressure drop is the likely culprit. Blood pools in your legs when you stand, and sometimes your body doesn’t compensate fast enough to keep blood flowing to your brain.
Simple physical maneuvers can raise your blood pressure just enough to maintain adequate blood flow to the brain, typically by about 10 to 15 mmHg. Try crossing your legs and squeezing your thigh muscles together while standing. Bending forward at the waist or placing one foot up on a chair also works. These positions push blood from your lower body back up toward your chest and head. Getting into the habit of rising slowly, pausing at the edge of the bed or chair for a few seconds before standing fully, prevents many episodes altogether. Staying well-hydrated also makes a significant difference, since low fluid volume makes blood pressure drops worse.
The Epley Maneuver for Positional Vertigo
If your dizziness feels like the room is spinning and gets triggered by specific head movements (rolling over in bed, looking up, tilting your head back), you likely have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV. This happens when tiny calcium crystals in your inner ear drift into a canal where they don’t belong, sending false motion signals to your brain.
The Epley maneuver moves those crystals back where they came from. It’s most effective when performed by a clinician the first time, but here’s the general sequence for the right ear: sit on a bed and turn your head 45 degrees to the right. Lie back quickly so your head hangs slightly over the edge. Hold for at least 30 seconds and wait for any spinning to settle. Then rotate your head 90 degrees to the left, again holding for 30 seconds. Next, roll your entire body to the left so you’re on your side with your head angled toward the floor. Hold another 30 seconds. Finally, sit up slowly while keeping your head turned. Repeat if needed, and reverse the directions if your left ear is the problem side.
Many people feel significant relief after one or two rounds. If the maneuver doesn’t help or your symptoms keep returning, a vestibular specialist can confirm which ear and canal are affected and guide you through the correct version.
Exercises That Improve Balance Over Time
For dizziness that lingers for weeks or keeps coming back, vestibular rehabilitation exercises retrain your brain to process balance signals more accurately. A well-known set called the Cawthorne-Cooksey exercises takes about 10 minutes per session, done three times a day in sets of five repetitions.
Start with eye movements: hold your head still and look up and down as far as you can, 20 times slowly. Once that feels manageable, speed it up. Next, move to head movements: with your eyes open, tip your head back as far as comfortable, then forward to touch your chin to your chest. Do this 20 times slowly, then 20 times quickly. As your symptoms improve, try the same head movements with your eyes closed. Shoulder shrugs (20 times up and down) and shoulder circles (20 times forward, 20 times backward) round out the routine.
These exercises will likely make you feel slightly dizzy at first. That’s actually the point: controlled, repeated exposure to dizziness signals teaches your brain to stop overreacting to them. Most people notice meaningful improvement within a few weeks of consistent practice.
Dietary Changes That Help
If your dizziness is related to inner-ear fluid imbalances, as in Ménière’s disease, reducing sodium intake can lower the frequency and severity of episodes. The American Academy of Otolaryngology recommends keeping sodium at or below 1,500 mg per day, with an upper ceiling of 2,300 mg. That means reading labels carefully: processed foods, restaurant meals, and canned soups are common culprits that push sodium intake well above those targets.
Caffeine can also trigger dizzy episodes in some people, though sensitivity varies. If you notice a pattern between your coffee intake and your symptoms, try cutting back gradually rather than quitting abruptly (which can cause its own headaches and dizziness). Alcohol has similar effects on inner-ear fluid and is worth limiting. Dehydration is one of the most common and most overlooked dietary causes of dizziness across all types, so consistent water intake throughout the day matters more than most people realize.
Ginger for Motion-Related Dizziness
Ginger has genuine evidence behind it for motion sickness. It works by blocking certain serotonin receptors and calming signals from the vagus nerve, both of which are involved in the nausea and dizziness that come with motion. In clinical studies, a dose of 160 mg of ginger extract (containing about 8 mg of the active compounds called gingerols) taken 15 minutes before travel reduced motion sickness symptoms. Ginger capsules, ginger chews, and even strong ginger tea are all reasonable options, though capsules give you the most consistent dosing.
Over-the-Counter Medication
Meclizine (sold under brand names like Dramamine Less Drowsy and Bonine) is the most commonly used over-the-counter option for dizziness and vertigo. For motion sickness, 25 to 50 mg taken an hour before travel is the standard dose, with one additional dose allowed every 24 hours. For vertigo, doses range from 25 to 100 mg per day, split across multiple doses. It’s not recommended for children under 12.
Meclizine works by dampening signals in the vestibular system, which reduces the spinning sensation. The trade-off is drowsiness: it’s an antihistamine, so it tends to make you sleepy. It’s best used as a short-term tool rather than a long-term solution, since suppressing your vestibular system for extended periods can actually slow your brain’s ability to adapt and recover on its own.
Red Flags That Need Emergency Care
Most dizziness is benign, but it can occasionally signal a stroke. Call emergency services immediately if your dizziness comes with sudden numbness or weakness on one side of the body, slurred or strange-sounding speech, trouble understanding what others are saying, vision loss in one or both eyes, or a sudden severe headache with no known cause. The quick test: ask the person to smile (watch for one side of the face drooping), raise both arms (watch for one drifting down), and repeat a simple phrase (listen for slurred speech). If any of these are abnormal, call 911 without waiting.