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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staffDepending on the reason for your low blood pressure, you may be able to take certain steps to help reduce or even prevent symptoms. Some suggestions include:
- Drink more water, less alcohol. Alcohol is dehydrating and can lower blood pressure, even if you drink in moderation. Water, on the other hand, combats dehydration and increases blood volume.
- Follow a healthy diet. Get all the nutrients you need for good health by focusing on a variety of foods, including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean chicken and fish. If your doctor suggests increasing your sodium intake but you don't like a lot of salt on your food, try using natural soy sauce — a whopping 1,200 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon — or adding dry soup mixes, also loaded with sodium, to dips and dressings.
- Go slowly when changing body positions. You may be able to reduce the dizziness and lightheadedness that occur with low blood pressure on standing by taking it easy when you move from a prone to a standing position. Before getting out of bed in the morning, breathe deeply for a few minutes and then slowly sit up before standing. Sleeping with the head of your bed slightly elevated also can help fight the effects of gravity. If you begin to get symptoms while standing, cross your thighs in a scissors fashion and squeeze, or put one foot on a ledge or chair and lean as far forward as possible. These maneuvers encourage blood to flow from your legs to your heart.
- Eat small, low-carb meals. To help prevent blood pressure from dropping sharply after meals, eat small portions several times a day and limit high-carbohydrate foods such as potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. Drinking caffeinated coffee or tea with meals may temporarily raise blood pressure, in some cases by as much as 3 to 14 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). But because caffeine can cause other problems, check with your doctor before increasing your caffeine intake.
References
- Your high blood pressure questions answered: Low blood pressure. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3034848. Accessed April 14, 2009.
- Hypotension. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hyp/hyp_whatis.html. Accessed April 14, 2009.
- Sheps SG, ed. Mayo Clinic 5 Steps to Controlling High Blood Pressure. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2008.
- Kaufmann H, et al. Mechanisms and causes of orthostatic and postprandial hypotension. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 6, 2009.
- Kaufmann H, et al. Treatment of orthostatic and postprandial hypotension. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 6, 2009.
