What is normal breathing?

When someone collapses to the floor and is not responding to you at all. It is important to be able to recognise when they are breathing normally or not. We practise assessing this on all our first aid courses.  A cardiac arrest is a common reason for an adult to stop breathing.  This is where the heart is no longer pumping the blood around the body, either because the person has had a heart attack or they have had a sudden cardiac arrest.  Without prompt help, the person will die.  What does this actually mean?

When a person has collapsed we teach people to use the Primary Survey to assess them. This consists of assessing for Danger, Checking to see if a person is conscious or responsive, opening their airway and then checking their breathing for up to 10 seconds.

The key thing here is to recognise when they are not breathing or not breathing normally.  This would involve looking at their chest to see if it is rising and falling at least twice in up to 10 seconds. Listening and feeling to check for air on your face as they breathe out.  You might feel this air on your cheek as it is  entering and leaving the mouth and nose.

Normal breathing is quiet, it’s rhythmic and you would see the chest rising and falling regularly - between 12 - 20 times every minute in an adult, this would equate to 2 in 10 seconds.  So we would check for up to 10 seconds.

Approximately 50% of adults in cardiac arrest will be doing agonal gasps. These should not be mistaken for normal breathing.  They are irregular and noisy.  It is important to be aware of this and not expect to see total silence when someone is not breathing.

If you think they are not breathing or not breathing “normally” you should start CPR?

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