Vital signs are measurements of the body’s basic functions. The vital signs doctors typically measure and monitor are:
- body temperature
- heart rate (the rate of your heartbeat)
- respiratory rate (rate of breathing)
- blood pressure
- oxygen saturation (the amount of oxygen circulating in your blood)
Vital signs are useful in detecting or monitoring health issues and alerting medical professionals to potential concerns.
In this article, we explore what vital signs are, how they’re measured, and what they can tell us about our health.