What Causes Dizziness When You Stand Up?
Jan 24, 2025
Do you feel your head spin and your vision blur when you suddenly stand up after sitting for a while? Medically, this feeling of dizziness is termed orthostatic hypotension or postural hypotension.
Read the following blog to understand what causes this orthostatic hypotension. Also, discover tips like taking multivitamin capsules, exercising, and more to prevent this dizziness. Read more.
What is Orthostatic Hypotension?
Orthostatic hypotension is a natural phenomenon that can happen to anyone when standing up after lying down or sitting for a long time. It happens due to a sudden drop in blood pressure levels in the upper body as the blood pools towards the legs.
Your body has to work hard to circulate blood against gravity to the upper body parts, which is why the dizziness goes away after a minute or two. You may also have the following symptoms:
- Shortness of breath
- Fainting
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Palpitations
- Blurred vision
Causes of Orthostatic Hypotension
Orthostatic hypotension naturally occurs with age, which wears down the ability of your arteries and heart cells to function properly, reducing their response time. Some medications can also interfere with blood pressure, leading to this dizziness. However, in healthy people, the orthostatic hypotension could be due to the following reasons:
- Dehydration: Low body fluids can negatively affect the circulation and flow of blood and essential nutrients to the brain and heart. This fluid imbalance can be caused by drinking less water, sweating profusely, exercising intensely, or taking diuretics.
- Eating Heavy Meals: Yup, there's a reason why you feel sleepy after a big meal. After eating, the blood rushed towards the intestines to aid in digestion. This can reduce the blood flow to other body organs. You may feel lightheaded when getting up after having a meal- this is termed postprandial hypotension.
- Heart Conditions: Heart-related medical problems like low heart rate or heart failure can lead to dizziness. As per several clinical studies, orthostatic hypotension was found to be associated with heart issues like congestive heart failure.
- Anaemia: Low iron in the body means fewer red blood cells. Since red blood cells are responsible for oxygen circulation, anemia can lead to a low oxygen supply to the brain, leading to brain fog, wooziness, and blurred vision for a couple of minutes. In worse cases, it can lead to fainting.
How to Treat Orthostatic Hypotension?
The management of this condition depends on the cause. If there are some medical issues, they need to be treated with medication. However, the general treatment of orthostatic hypotension is:
- Get rid of deficiencies by eating a well-balanced diet and taking multivitamin supplements fortified with zinc, magnesium, iron, and other essential nutrients.
- Improve heart health by boosting good cholesterol in the body. Some excellent natural sources of good fats are fish oil, walnuts, almonds, and other nuts and seeds.
- Stay physically active to improve the health of your veins and arteries.
- Avoid getting up suddenly after lying down or sitting for too long.
- Wear compression stockings to prevent fluid retention.
- Drink plenty of fluids but with less salt and sodium, as they lead to dehydration.
In Short
Orthostatic hypotension causes dizziness and blurred vision when you stand up suddenly. It is caused by blood rushing down your legs and having low blood pressure towards the heart and brain. Nutritional deficiencies like anemia and other health conditions can also lead to it. See a doctor for proper diagnosis who may provide ideal treatment and management tips.
