If your blood pressure reads below 90/60 mmHg, the most effective immediate steps are lying down with your legs elevated, drinking water, and adding salt to your diet. A single low reading without symptoms isn’t necessarily a problem. But if you’re feeling dizzy, lightheaded, or faint, your body is telling you it needs more blood flow to the brain, and there are specific things you can do right now and over time to bring your pressure up.
What to Do Right Now
If you’re feeling woozy or lightheaded, sit or lie down immediately. Lying flat with your legs propped above heart level helps blood flow back toward your brain and core. If you can’t lie down, sit and lean forward or squat, which compresses your abdomen and pushes blood upward.
Drink water, and drink it quickly. Consuming about 16 to 20 ounces (roughly 500 mL) of water within five minutes can raise blood pressure noticeably. This rapid water bolus works especially well first thing in the morning, before exercise, or after eating. Keep a water bottle within reach if low blood pressure is a recurring issue for you.
Eat something salty. A handful of salted nuts, a cup of broth, or a few crackers with cheese can help your body retain fluid in the bloodstream, which increases blood volume and raises pressure. Avoid alcohol, which dilates blood vessels and drops pressure further.
Counter-Pressure Techniques That Work Fast
When you feel symptoms coming on, specific muscle-tensing exercises can buy your body enough blood pressure to prevent fainting. These are worth practicing even when you feel fine so they become second nature.
- Leg crossing: Cross one leg over the other and squeeze the muscles in your legs, abdomen, and buttocks. Hold as long as you can or until symptoms pass.
- Arm tensing: Grip one hand with the other and pull them against each other without letting go. This full-arm tension raises pressure within seconds.
- Handgrip: Squeeze a rubber ball (or anything firm) in your dominant hand for as long as you can or until the dizziness fades.
These counter-pressure maneuvers work by forcing blood out of your muscles and back into central circulation. They’re recommended by the Cleveland Clinic as a first-line defense against fainting episodes.
Why Your Blood Pressure Drops
Low blood pressure has several common triggers, and knowing yours helps you prevent episodes rather than just react to them.
The most common type is orthostatic hypotension, which happens when you stand up. Normally, standing shifts 500 to 1,000 mL of blood (roughly a liter) into your legs and abdomen. Your nervous system is supposed to compensate by tightening blood vessels and slightly increasing heart rate. When that reflex fails or is sluggish, your blood pressure drops and you feel dizzy or see spots. This affects an estimated 7% to 10% of adults, especially older adults and people on blood pressure medications.
Postprandial hypotension is a blood pressure drop after eating. Symptoms typically appear within two hours of a meal, especially large meals heavy in carbohydrates or paired with alcohol. Digestion diverts blood to your gut, and in some people the body doesn’t compensate well enough to keep pressure stable elsewhere.
Other common causes include dehydration, prolonged bed rest, heat exposure, blood loss, and certain medications. Overexertion, hot baths, and straining during bowel movements can all trigger sudden drops.
Long-Term Strategies for Chronic Low Blood Pressure
Increase Your Salt Intake
For most health conditions, people are told to cut salt. Low blood pressure is the opposite. Salt helps your body hold onto water in the bloodstream, increasing blood volume and raising pressure. Medical guidelines for people with orthostatic disorders recommend significantly more sodium than the general population consumes. The American Society of Hypertension suggests 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium per day for people with orthostatic hypotension, and some specialists recommend even higher amounts of 4,000 to 8,000 mg daily depending on severity.
A practical approach is adding 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to your diet three times per day through food or salt tablets. One study found that about 2,400 mg of daily sodium supplementation for two months improved both standing tolerance and blood flow regulation in people who were prone to fainting. If you have kidney disease or heart failure, talk with your doctor before increasing salt, since fluid retention can worsen those conditions.
Stay Well Hydrated
A general baseline for daily fluid intake is roughly 25 to 30 mL per kilogram of body weight. For a 150-pound person, that works out to about 1.7 to 2 liters per day, or roughly 7 to 8 cups. People with chronic low blood pressure often benefit from exceeding this amount. Drinking a large glass of water before getting out of bed in the morning is one of the simplest habits you can build.
Wear Compression Garments
Compression stockings prevent blood from pooling in your legs when you stand. For low blood pressure, the recommended compression level is 20 to 30 mmHg. Full-length stockings that run from ankle to hip work significantly better than knee-high or thigh-high versions, because they also compress the large veins in the upper leg. An abdominal binder can help too, especially before outings or events where you’ll be on your feet. The catch is that these garments can be uncomfortable and difficult to put on, so many people use them strategically rather than all day.
Adjust How You Sleep
Elevating the head of your bed by several inches (using bed risers, not just pillows) can reduce nighttime trips to the bathroom and help your body maintain better blood pressure regulation overnight. This gentle tilt trains your cardiovascular reflexes and reduces the dramatic pressure drop that happens when you stand up first thing in the morning.
Eating Patterns That Help
If your blood pressure tends to drop after meals, smaller and more frequent meals make a noticeable difference. Large meals, especially those heavy in refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, or sugary foods, trigger a bigger blood flow shift to your digestive system. Eating smaller portions spread across the day reduces that shift.
Sit for at least 20 minutes after eating rather than jumping up to clear the table or head out. Avoid alcohol with meals. Caffeine can temporarily raise blood pressure, so a cup of coffee or tea with a meal may help offset the postprandial drop for some people.
When Medication May Be Needed
If lifestyle changes aren’t enough, medications can help. The most commonly prescribed option works by stimulating nerve endings in blood vessels, causing them to tighten and raising blood pressure. It’s typically taken three times during the day in roughly four-hour intervals, with the last dose no later than late afternoon to avoid raising blood pressure while you sleep.
Other medications work by helping your kidneys retain sodium, which increases blood volume. These are generally reserved for people whose symptoms significantly affect daily life or put them at risk for falls and injuries.
Symptoms That Need Urgent Attention
Occasional lightheadedness when standing up quickly is common and usually harmless. But certain symptoms alongside low blood pressure suggest something more serious is happening. Confusion, cold or clammy skin, rapid shallow breathing, a weak and fast pulse, or blurred vision that doesn’t clear within a few seconds can indicate your organs aren’t getting enough blood flow. Fainting, especially without warning symptoms, warrants medical evaluation. A sudden drop in blood pressure after an injury, allergic reaction, or infection needs emergency care.
If you’re taking blood pressure medications and experiencing frequent dizziness or near-fainting, your doses may need adjustment. Interestingly, research from the 2025 AHA guidelines found that more intensive blood pressure treatment doesn’t actually increase the risk of orthostatic hypotension. In fact, active treatment may lower that risk. So the solution is rarely to stop blood pressure medication on your own, but rather to have your regimen reassessed.