If you need to take vital signs of a person at rest, how long should they have been sitting or lying?

To ensure accurate and reliable vital sign measurements, it's essential for a person to be in a stable physiological state, particularly in terms of their heart rate and blood pressure. Sitting or lying down for 15 minutes allows sufficient time for the body to adjust to a resting state, minimizing the influences of activity, stress, or positioning that could skew the results.

During this time, the person's heart rate stabilizes, and any transient changes in blood pressure due to recent movements or exertion will have subsided. This standard is commonly employed in clinical practice to ensure that the readings reflect the individual's baseline measurements, leading to more accurate assessments of their health status.

While shorter periods can sometimes be acceptable, they may not allow enough time for the body to sufficiently acclimate to rest, which could affect the reliability of the readings. Therefore, a 15-minute period is recognized as a sound guideline for obtaining vital signs under resting conditions.