The human body is an immensely complicated machine, one that has countless lines of defense, as well as countless vulnerabilities. Despite the complexity of the human body, detecting when something is wrong can be surprisingly straightforward. This is exactly what normal vital signs are for.
These are the simple and straightforward signs that any healthcare practitioner can quickly use to test for a wide range of health problems. Normal vital signs have been a consistently reliable indicator of general health for decades and continue to prove useful in a wide range of settings. If you are looking for a refresher on normal vital signs, read on to find out more.
1. Pulse Rate
The pulse rate is simply the number of times your heart beats every minute. It is a hugely reliable indicator of a person’s health and life signs and is very easy to check. The pulse tells us the rate that the heart is beating at, as well as the strength of the heartbeat and rhythm.
Simply use your two index fingers and touch the pulse on either the wrist or the neck. A healthy pulse rate is typically between 60 and 100 beats per minute. A pulse rate that is irregular, too fast, or too slow can be indicative of a serious and immediate health problem and should always be subject to further testing.
2. Blood Pressure
Blood pressure measures the strength with which your blood is pushing against the walls of your arteries during each and every contraction of your heart. High blood pressure is one of the single biggest killers in the world and is responsible for heart attacks, strokes, hypertension, and more.
Checking a person’s blood pressure requires checking for two things: the systolic and diastolic pressures. These can both be found out instantly with a basic blood pressure monitor. A healthy blood pressure reading is usually less than 120/80. Anything significantly higher or lower than this should be a cause for concern.
3. Body Temperature
A person’s body temperature is something that is constantly kept at a steady equilibrium in healthy humans. A normal human body temperature should always be around 36.5 to 37.2 degrees Celcius or 97.8 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
If the body temperature is too high, a person might be suffering from an extreme fever and could be in need of immediate treatment. If a body temperature is too low, they could be suffering from hypothermia. You can easily use a standard body thermometer to check someone’s temperature by skin, by ear, orally, or rectally.
4. Respiratory Rate
Finally, there is the respiratory rate or breathing rate. This can determine the oxygen level in a person’s blood and is essential when checking for certain respiratory viruses. A normal respiratory rate is 12 to 16 breaths per minute.
Any higher than this could indicate fever or difficulty getting oxygen into the blood. An irregular or extreme respiratory rate usually requires immediate medical attention.
Expert Systems for Normal Vital Signs
Normal vital signs are crucial indicators of overall health that can make us make the right choices when it comes to treatment. If you want to find out more about the devices you can use to ensure flawless vital sign analysis, make sure to consult our friendly and professional team today.