Surprising Factors That Can Lead to Orthostatic Hypotension

Have you ever stood up quickly and suddenly felt dizzy, lightheaded, or like the room was spinning? You may brush this off as nothing serious, but it can be a sign of a condition called orthostatic hypotension. This happens when your blood pressure drops too much as you move from sitting or lying down to standing.

Normally, your body reacts fast, your heart beats a little quicker, and your blood vessels tighten to push blood up to your brain. When this response is slow or weak, blood briefly pools in your legs, and your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen. That’s when dizziness, blurred vision, or even fainting can occur.

What Is Orthostatic Hypotension?

Orthostatic hypotension, also known as postural hypotension, is defined as a sudden drop in blood pressure that occurs upon standing from a sitting or supine position. This condition significantly impacts your quality of life and increases the risk of falls, cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression, and mortality.

Common symptoms to watch for

• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Blurred vision
• Weakness or fatigue
• Nausea
• Fainting (syncope)

Surprising factors that can trigger orthostatic hypotension

• Mild dehydration:

Mild dehydration can cause orthostatic dehydration. When you’re mildly dehydrated, your body doesn’t have enough fluids circulating in your blood. This means your blood volume becomes lower than normal, even if you don’t feel very thirsty. Normally, when you stand up, gravity pulls some of your blood down into your legs. To prevent dizziness, your body quickly tightens blood vessels and pushes blood back up to your brain. But with less blood available because of dehydration, this adjustment becomes harder. As a result, not enough blood reaches your brain for a few seconds, causing lightheadedness, dizziness, or blurred vision. This sudden drop in blood pressure when standing is called orthostatic hypotension.

• Excess alcohol intake:

When you drink too much alcohol, it affects your blood vessels by making it relaxed. When you stand up, your body normally tightens these vessels to keep blood flowing to your brain. But with alcohol, the vessels stay too relaxed, so blood drops down to your legs instead making you feel dizzy.

• Skipping meals or low blood sugar:

When you skip meals, your blood sugar drops. Your body especially your brain relies on sugar for energy. Normally, when you stand, your body quickly adjusts your heart rate and blood pressure but with low blood sugar: Your body feels weak and sluggish Your brain doesn’t get enough energy to coordinate these adjustments.

• Prolonged bed rest:

Staying in bed for long periods due to illness or inactivity can weakens your circulation system. Your body becomes used to lying down and blood vessels lose their ability to adjust quickly. When you suddenly stand, your body struggles to respond.

• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies:

Lack of vitamins such as vitamin B12, iron or folates can weaken the production of red blood cells and limit cerebral oxygenation, increasing the risk of orthostatic hypotension.

How is orthostatic hypotension managed?

Lifestyle changes: Lifestyles changes can help to manage orthostatic hypotension. Lifestyle changes such as staying hydrated, changing positions slowly, and allow a few seconds to adjust after each position change and also if you feel dizzy when you stand up, sit back down. Sometimes, you may need to lie down.

Use of supplement: Use of supplement like Nature’sfield Yohimbe can help to manage orthostatic hypotension. Yohimbe contains Yohimbine, which stimulates the nervous system which can tighten blood vessels and slightly raise blood pressure.

However, Orthostatic hypotension causes low blood pressure with changes in position. It is often a symptom of an underlying problem. Since there are many things that can cause orthostatic hypotension, getting help with Nature’sfield Yohimbe can help increase your blood pressure and reduce the symptoms associated with it.