Why do I feel dizzy when I stand up from sitting down?

Many people will have this feeling. When they are sitting or squatting, if they stand up suddenly, they will often feel dizzy and their eyes may turn black. Sometimes they will see stars in their eyes. This is clinically called orthostatic hypotension. It may be caused by both physiological and disease reasons. It is more common in the elderly and children. If this happens frequently, you should go to the hospital for examination in time.

Why do I feel dizzy when I stand up from sitting down?

In fact, in clinical practice, this symptom is called orthostatic hypotension, and sometimes it is also called postural hypotension. Let’s take a closer look with the editor below.

What are the symptoms?

When we are squatting or sitting, the blood flow is slow. If we stand up suddenly, the blood flow speeds up, especially in the waist, legs and other parts. At this moment, the brain will be temporarily deprived of blood supply and be in a blank state, which will affect the brain's functioning. Lack of blood supply will cause dizziness and blacking out.

This situation is more common among the elderly and children. Postural hypotension affects 15% of people over 65 years old, and 50% of people over 75 years old.

Why does this symptom occur?

This is mainly because when the human body suddenly stands up after squatting or sitting for a long time, the blood in the whole body quickly flows to the waist and legs, resulting in a temporary lack of blood supply to the brain. In addition, the functioning of the brain and eyes requires normal blood supply at all times. Therefore, even a brief lack of blood supply can cause dizziness and blackness. People with weaker bodies need to be especially careful. When squatting or sitting for a long time, do not stand up suddenly and move slowly.

Blood also has a certain weight in the body. When you stand up suddenly, the blood will flow to the lower part of the body in large quantities due to the attraction of gravity and inertia, and the blood distributed to the upper body will be reduced. In addition, when you stand up, your head also rises upright, and it becomes more difficult for the heart to pump blood to the high head. All of these result in a relative reduction in blood flow to the head. The human brain is the part that needs blood and oxygen the most. A brief reduction in blood supply can make people feel dizzy due to temporary cerebral anemia. In addition, due to the reduced blood supply to the head, the blood supply to the eyeball will also be less, then, dizziness and spots will occur. At the same time, anemia and hypoglycemia will aggravate this phenomenon. If you encounter this situation, don't panic too much. Just take a short rest and stretch your muscles and bones, and the heart's blood supply will return to normal, and the symptoms of dizziness and blurred vision will disappear.

Is it some other disease?

If you squat for a long time and then stand up suddenly, you may feel dizzy and black spots in front of your eyes, which may be due to other symptoms. For example: cardiovascular disease, brain tumor, neurasthenia, arrhythmia, etc. These can be discovered during routine physical examinations and physical examinations.

Patients with anemia may also experience this symptom, but the occurrence of this symptom does not necessarily mean anemia. If you are a patient with anemia, try to avoid squatting for a long time. By strengthening nutrition, you can effectively regulate, condition and improve it.

What to do in daily life

The brain tumors, cardiovascular diseases, and arrhythmias mentioned above are often related to the heart. Indeed, the heart produces new blood and promotes metabolism throughout the body. Once the heart is damaged and blood flow is affected, symptoms such as dizziness and blackening of the eyes will appear.

In normal times, take good care of your heart. In terms of work and rest, don't stay up late, go to bed early and get up early, and maintain 8 hours of sleep; in terms of diet, eat more blood-enriching and qi-replenishing foods, such as red dates, donkey-hide gelatin, astragalus, angelica, etc.; in terms of exercise, don't stay at home all the time, jogging and Tai Chi are very good, while strengthening physical fitness, they can also enhance cardiovascular function.