A method for measuring human vital signs and a portable terminal adopting the same provides accurate measurements without increasing the thickness of power usage of the portable terminal. The portable terminal includes: a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor module disposed on a predetermined position of a portable terminal main body to detect characteristic parameter of human body a signal transceiving module used to perform communication with the SAW sensor module, to receive an echo signal of the SAW sensor module and a data processing module used to process the echo signal from the SAW sensor module to obtain the human vital signs. The SAW sensor module includes a sensing unit that does not require receiving power from a power supply for operation when implemented as a passive element.
