Blood pressure

With the caveat this is my understanding and I am not a doctor, there are three reasons you might have low blood pressure:

  1. You’re extremely healthy and your system is very, very efficient
  2. You’re heart is weak/ill/deteriorating and simply can’t keep the pressure up
  3. We don’t know, you’re just that way.

Obviously, if you’re heart is having problems and can’t meet sudden changes in demand because of that illness (such as standing up quickly) that can be a serious problem and probably requires medical attention. The other two reasons are OK, so long as your system can handle changes in demand.

The “light-headed” thing is because your heart isn’t quite pumping hard enough to thoroughly oxygenate your brain. It them because a question of whether or not that is severe enough to pose a safety hazard or indicative of a serious problem.

In my case, when I took my first FAA physical they were a bit concerned because I was right at the bottom of “normal” by their standards (100/60) and, given that pilots are regularly subjected to greater than normal g-forces that require a heart healthy enough to meet the necessary power to oxygenate a brain at, say, 2g’s they wanted to be sure my pressure was low because of reason #1 rather that either of the other two. They did not want me to be light-headed at all. For someone not engaged in some activities a little light-headedness now and again might not be a problem or require any intervention so long as something serious isn’t going on.

If you have low blood pressure because of #1, when you run or exert yourself your blood pressure will rise a bit to meet the demands of the activity. If it’s for #2 it won’t, and that can be serious.

Thanks Broomstick!