Breathing Rate: Normal Ranges, What Changes It and When It Matters

Urgent first

Fast, shallow or labored breathing can be a medical emergency. MedlinePlus says rapid, shallow breathing should not be treated at home and is generally considered a medical emergency, unless anxiety is the only cause. [1] It advises calling 911 or the local emergency number, or going to the emergency room, if you are breathing rapidly and also have a bluish or grayish skin color, chest pain, chest wall pulling in with each breath, fever, labored breathing, or have never had rapid breathing before. [1] If you have asthma or COPD, use your prescribed medicines. [1] This page is not a screening tool and cannot tell you whether your breathing is safe.

What is a breathing rate?

Breathing rate (respiratory rate) is the number of breaths in one minute. Clinicians treat it as one of the vital signs, along with pulse, temperature and blood pressure. [2]

Typical resting ranges

Two health pages from the same publisher give slightly different adult ranges, which shows that "normal" is a range rather than a single number. In children, breathing is faster awake than asleep. [3]

What changes it

MedlinePlus says normal vital signs change with age, sex, weight, exercise capability and overall health. [2] In a study of young healthy adults, breathing rate differed with body position: about 15.1 breaths per minute sitting, 15.0 standing, 13.7 lying on the back and 14.4 lying on the front. [4] MedlinePlus lists anxiety and panic among many causes of rapid, shallow breathing. [1]

Rapid breathing, hyperventilation and breathlessness

MedlinePlus uses "tachypnea" for breathing that is too fast, especially fast and shallow breathing from lung disease or another medical cause, and "hyperventilation" usually for rapid, deep breaths. [1] Causes include asthma, a lung blood clot, COPD, heart failure, pneumonia and anxiety or panic. [1] Breathlessness is partly a feeling: MedlinePlus says breathing difficulty is subjective, and only the person feeling it can decide if it is present. [5] If it is new or getting worse, it may be due to a serious problem. [5] For how to tell the difference, see hyperventilation, panic attack or medical emergency and overbreathing and hyperventilation.

Why counting at home has limits

Counting breaths is simple, but not always accurate. In a study of 36,966 hospital admissions, recorded rates clustered at 18 and 20, and the authors concluded that respiratory rate is inaccurately recorded. [6] That is a hospital finding, but it shows that even a trained count is a rough estimate. We did not find a source that gives a reliable home method, so this page does not give one. Wearables and pulse oximeters have their own accuracy limits; see pulse oximeters and SpO2 estimates.

Rate is not the same as a slow-breathing practice

Some studies of slow breathing exercises use rates under 10 breaths per minute in healthy people. [7] That is a deliberate practice for a short time, not a target for everyday breathing, and it is not a signal that your resting rate is "wrong". Practice details are on paced and resonance-frequency breathing. Stop and return to normal breathing if you feel dizzy, tingly, faint, anxious or short of breath.