How to Take a Respiration Rate

Lungs

Although only a trained medical professional can properly diagnose health problems, there are many ways for you to give yourself a checkup at home. The speed of your heart, your body temperature and the number of breaths you take per minute called are called "vital signs." An irregularity in your vital signs can indicate a health problem, such as heart disease or asthma.
Respiration rate, or the rate at which you're breathing, is an important test, and requires only a clock and a few minutes of free time.

Things You'll Need

• Stopwatch or other timepiece

Instructions

1. Sit down in a comfortable position with your stopwatch.

2. Relax until your breathing has evened out. This should take about a minute, but may take longer if you've just been exercising.

3. Start the timer, which you will let run for one minute. If you are using a normal clock instead of a stopwatch, simply note when the minute begins and ends.

4. Count how many times you breathe. Breathing in and then breathing back out counts as one full breath.

5. Stop counting at the one minute mark. The number of full breaths you took in that minute is your resting respiration rate.

6. Look at your results. A resting respiration rate of under 12 breaths per minute is too low, and over 25 breaths per minute is too fast. An ideal respiration rate for an adult is between 15 and 20.

Tips & Warnings

• Certain medical conditions or illnesses can alter your respiration rate. For example, if you have asthma or chronic bronchitis, your respiration rate will be higher than normal.

• If your respiration rate is above or below the normal range, see a medical professional immediately.

References

• University of Virginia- Vital Signs