Respiratory Rate: What's Normal, and Why It Matters

Respiratory rate is one of the most stable vital signs your body produces during sleep—and one of the most revealing. While metrics like heart rate variability and resting heart rate can fluctuate from night to night, your breathing rate typically holds steady within a narrow range. When it does shift, that change is often meaningful.

This article explains what respiratory rate is, what's considered normal during sleep, why monitoring it matters for your health, and how WHOOP measures it with clinical-grade accuracy.

What is respiratory rate?

Your respiratory rate, often referred to as your breathing rate, is the number of breaths you take per minute. For most healthy adults, average breaths per minute typically range from 12 to 20 while in a state of rest. Given the ongoing concern around respiratory illnesses like COVID-19, respiratory rate remains an important vital sign to keep in mind.

An increased respiratory rate may be a sign of illness. Each breath, or respiration, has two phases: inhalation and exhalation. Oxygen is brought into your lungs during inhalation and transported throughout your body in the bloodstream, while carbon dioxide is eliminated during exhalation.

What is a normal respiratory rate while sleeping?

WHOOP measures respiratory rate during sleep and reports it in units of "respirations per minute," or RPM. The number you see displayed in the app is your median number of RPM over the course of the night while you are sleeping.

As you can see above, the majority of WHOOP members have an average respiratory rate that falls somewhere between 13 and 18 breaths per minute.

Why monitoring your respiratory rate matters

WHOOP has tracked respiratory rate during sleep for a long time. We use minute-by-minute alterations in respiratory rate in our sleep staging algorithm because respiratory rate predictably changes slightly during different sleep stages.

Initially, WHOOP did not display the respiratory rate metric to members.

However, in an effort to always improve the analysis and recommendations we provide, we discovered something interesting. While respiratory rate for adults is generally an indicator of cardiovascular fitness and load, it is also a remarkably stable metric. From night to night, you should not expect to see much change in your respiratory rate statistic.

But when it does change, that change tends to be meaningful.

What an abnormal respiratory rate can mean

While HRV and resting heart rate may meaninglessly change from day to day, respiration rate generally does not. Because of this, respiratory rate is useful for spotting sleeps in which something is off, particularly increases in respiratory rate.

In my own data, for example, over a 30-day span my respiratory rate ranged from 14-15 breaths per minute every night except one—when I was sleeping in a middle seat on a red-eye plane from Boston to Reykjavik. My respiratory rate was 17 that night, and I slept terribly.

A consistently elevated respiratory rate can be an indicator of illness, fever, or other physiological stressors. In some cases, significant variations in breathing patterns during sleep can be associated with sleep-disordered breathing, such as sleep apnea. Conversely, a respiratory rate that is significantly lower than your baseline could also warrant attention.

The key is to monitor your personal trend over time, as deviations from your established normal are the most meaningful signal.

How WHOOP measures respiratory rate

WHOOP calculates respiratory rate from your raw heart rate data by taking advantage of a phenomenon called Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia.

Here's how it works: When you breathe in your heart rate increases, and when you breathe out it decreases. This allows your body to preferentially pass blood by the lungs while they are full of oxygen. Because the autonomic nervous system increases heart rate during inhalation and decreases it during exhalation, we can see respiratory rate in your continuous heart rate data by looking for this cyclical pattern of increasing and decreasing.

WHOOP is the first wrist-worn wearable device to have the accuracy of its respiratory rate measurement during sleep validated by a third party. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, WHOOP respiratory rate was shown to be within a single breath per minute of gold-standard truth.

Monitor your trends with the WHOOP Health Monitor

The WHOOP Health Monitor, available with Peak and Life memberships, tracks key vital signs including respiratory rate, HRV, resting heart rate, blood oxygen level, and skin temperature, displaying them in one place. Blood oxygen and skin temperature monitoring require the WHOOP 4.0 or newer hardware. Every morning, the Health Monitor lets you know if each of these stats is within your typical range, color coding them in green, yellow, or red.

Understand your body's data

Your respiratory rate is a stable and reliable metric that provides valuable insight into your sleep, recovery, and overall health. By monitoring your trends, you can better understand how your body is responding to training, lifestyle, and potential stressors. This data empowers you to make more informed decisions and stay proactive on your health journey.

Frequently asked questions about respiratory rate

What is considered an abnormal respiratory rate for an adult?

For adults at rest, a respiratory rate below 12 or above 20 breaths per minute is often considered abnormal. However, what matters most is a significant deviation from your personal baseline. A sudden increase or decrease that is sustained can be a more meaningful indicator than comparing to a general population average.

How is respiratory rate different from the AHI used to measure sleep apnea?

Respiratory rate, measured in respirations per minute (RPM), is your average number of breaths over a period. The Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) is a clinical metric used to diagnose sleep apnea. It counts the specific number of apnea (paused breathing) and hypopnea (shallow breathing) events that occur per hour of sleep.

WHOOP measures respiratory rate for wellness insights, not AHI for diagnosis.

How accurate are wearables at measuring respiratory rate during sleep?

The accuracy can vary by device. WHOOP calculates respiratory rate from heart rate data using a phenomenon called respiratory sinus arrhythmia. The accuracy of this method has been validated against gold-standard polysomnography in a third-party study, showing it to be within one breath per minute of the correct value.

The products and services of WHOOP are intended for wellness and informational purposes. Some features may be FDA-cleared. WHOOP is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. All content available through WHOOP is for general informational purposes only.