If your blood pressure drops and you feel dizzy, lightheaded, or faint, the first thing to do is sit or lie down immediately and drink water. Low blood pressure, generally a reading below 90/60 mmHg, isn’t always dangerous on its own. But when it causes symptoms, you need to act quickly to get blood flowing back to your brain and then figure out what’s driving it.
What to Do Right Now
If you’re feeling dizzy or lightheaded, sit down or lie on your back with your legs elevated above the level of your heart. This helps blood return to your brain faster. If you can’t lie down, sit and cross your legs tightly while squeezing your thigh muscles. This simple maneuver pushes blood from your lower body upward and can raise your pressure within seconds.
Drink a full glass of water, ideally 16 ounces. Water alone can raise blood pressure noticeably within minutes. If you have salt available, adding some to the water or eating a salty snack helps even more because sodium pulls fluid into your bloodstream and increases blood volume. Stay in position until the dizziness fully passes before trying to stand.
If someone near you shows signs of shock (confusion, cold or clammy skin, pale color, rapid shallow breathing), call 911 immediately. These symptoms mean blood pressure has dropped to a level where organs aren’t getting enough blood flow.
Increase Salt and Fluid Intake
For people with chronically low blood pressure, the standard recommendation is to eat a high-salt diet, around 8 to 10 grams of sodium chloride per day. That’s roughly double what the average person eats. You can get there by salting your food more liberally, eating broth-based soups, pickles, olives, or salted nuts. Some people find they can’t hit that target through food alone and use supplemental salt tablets.
Water matters just as much as salt. Dehydration is one of the most common and fixable causes of low blood pressure. Aim to drink water consistently throughout the day rather than only when you’re thirsty. A good habit is drinking a full glass of water 15 to 30 minutes before you plan to stand for a long time or do anything physically demanding.
How to Stand Up Safely
Many people with low blood pressure notice it most when they stand up too quickly. Blood pools in the legs when you rise, and if your body doesn’t compensate fast enough, your brain briefly loses adequate blood flow. This is called orthostatic hypotension, and it’s especially common in the morning after lying flat all night.
Before you get out of bed, sit on the edge for a minute or two. Clench and unclench your hands, or squeeze a soft ball. These isometric exercises activate muscles that help push blood upward. When you do stand, have something sturdy nearby to hold. Move slowly and deliberately. If you feel any dizziness, sit back down and wait before trying again.
Elevating the head of your bed at night can also help. Using extra pillows or raising the mattress at the head end reduces the dramatic blood pressure shift that happens when you go from lying flat to standing in the morning. Even a modest incline makes a difference.
Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals
Blood pressure commonly drops after eating because your body diverts blood to the digestive system. Large meals, especially those heavy in carbohydrates like pasta, bread, and rice, cause the biggest drops. This is called postprandial hypotension, and it’s particularly common in older adults.
Switching from three large meals to six smaller ones throughout the day reduces the amount of blood your gut demands at any one time. Keeping carbohydrate portions modest at each meal also helps. You don’t need to eliminate carbs entirely, just avoid eating a huge plate of pasta by itself without protein or fat to slow digestion.
Compression Garments
Compression stockings squeeze the veins in your legs and prevent blood from pooling there when you stand. For low blood pressure, start with stockings rated at 20 to 30 mmHg of compression. If that feels too tight or hard to put on, drop to 15 to 20 mmHg. If it doesn’t feel like enough, move up to 30 to 40 mmHg. Waist-high stockings work better than knee-high ones because they cover more territory.
Abdominal compression helps too. Firm shapewear that wraps snugly around your midsection prevents blood from pooling in your abdomen. Combining leg stockings with abdominal compression gives the strongest effect. The key is wearing them during the day, especially when you’ll be standing or walking for extended periods.
Medications That Can Cause Low Blood Pressure
If you take medication, it may be the reason your blood pressure runs low. Blood pressure drugs are the most obvious culprits, including water pills (diuretics), beta blockers, and ACE inhibitors. But dozens of other medication categories can also drop your pressure. Antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications like benzodiazepines, opioid painkillers, prostate medications (alpha blockers), and drugs used for Parkinson’s disease are among the most frequently reported.
A scoping review covering 97 studies identified over 180 individual drugs across more than 30 different categories that can cause low blood pressure. If your symptoms started or worsened after beginning a new medication, that connection is worth investigating with whoever prescribed it. Sometimes a dose adjustment or switching to a different drug in the same class resolves the problem entirely.
What Might Be Causing It
Low blood pressure isn’t a disease by itself. It’s a sign that something else is going on. Common underlying causes include dehydration, anemia (low red blood cell count), low blood sugar, thyroid problems, and heart conditions. Pregnancy, prolonged bed rest, and significant blood loss can also drive it.
If your blood pressure is persistently low or you’re having recurring symptoms like dizziness, fainting, or fatigue, a workup typically involves blood tests to check for anemia, blood sugar problems, and hormone imbalances. An electrocardiogram checks whether your heart rhythm or structure might be contributing. A tilt table test, where you’re strapped to a table that tilts from horizontal to upright while your vitals are monitored, can confirm whether your body struggles to regulate blood pressure with position changes. Identifying and treating the root cause is often more effective than just managing the symptoms.