Our thoughts on the Oura Ring

I received an Oura ring for Christmas and I was really excited to start tracking my sleep. The reason I wanted one in the first place was to actually track my sleep. I felt tired a lot and wanted to get some data on how my sleep quality was. I did some research and learned the Aura ring had the best data and was most accurate for sleep, so I decided to give it a whirl. What I didn’t know is how much more data I’d receive and what I would learn about myself. 

What I really like: 

In-depth sleep data.

The data I receive every morning about my sleep quality is extremely thorough. It doesn’t just state when I fell asleep and for how long I was sleeping - it goes deeper. Listed below is all the data I receive daily regarding my sleep:

Total sleep - from the moment I fall asleep until I wake up for the day and everything in between.

Sleep Efficiency: This is the percentage of time I spent awake vs. asleep. 

Restfulness: This tracks my movement during sleep and any wake-ups that I may have during the night.

REM sleep: This is where dreaming, memory consolidation, and creativity occur and makes up roughly 5-50% of total sleep. 

Deep sleep: the most restorative sleep stage, which makes up anywhere from 0-35% of total sleep. 

Sleep Latency: How long it took me to fall asleep.

Sleep timing: How my sleep aligns with my circadian rhythm.

Additional Information for in-depth education on my sleep

With each category of sleep data there is additional information explaining what each data point is, why it’s important, a range percentage, and where I fall in the spectrum. It’s a really great way to get more educated regarding sleep hygiene especially where I might fall short. 

Sleep Debt

If I don’t have a good night's sleep, or even consecutive night's of interrupted sleep, it shows my sleep dept. Knowing if I have sleep dept or not can help me determine if I should go to bed earlier for a few night's or get a nap in to try and “catch up” on my sleep. 

Sound advice on sleep

If I fall short in any of the data points within my sleep, it gives me ideas on how to improve this data point. It also allows me to create tags which can help me identify what my barriers are. Most of the time it’s my kids ha! And yes there’s a tag for that! The tags are helpful to understand patterns and what might be causing me not to sleep well. 

Stress

This was a big one for me. I didn’t realize how many times during the day my heart rate was elevated and I was in a constant state of stress. Stress isn’t always a bad thing - since I teach fitness for a living I am constantly excited! I also have two kids - and that can bring about all different kinds of stress.  However, knowing that I am elevated for a good part of my day helps me realize that I need a bit more down time to relax and restore my body. 

Strain

This was SPOT ON when I caught my daughters cold. It tells me when my body is fighting something or if something is straining my body. When my body temperature rises, if my breathing is off - it will let me know. This isn’t just when I’m sick too. If I have a glass of wine later in the evening (which I don’t do often) my sleep obviously is effected which in turn strains my body. Depending on the type of strain, it’s either mild or severe, and it tells me to slow down and that my body is fighting something. This actually helps validate how I’m feeling and gives me the “ok” to rest my body that I might need. I find that I bounce back from illness quicker because I actually rest instead of try to muscle through the day!

It gets to know you

The more I wear the ring (which I rarely take it off) the more it gets to know my body and lifestyle. It tracks when I usually go to bed and wake up so eventually after a few months of wearing it, it’ll tell me what my natural circadian rhythm is and when my optimal bed time and wake time are. 

One of the really cool things is that it also understands how you move. Once you start logging your fitness, it remembers and when you do it again it shows up on the app. For example, when I bike I track it as cycling and my heart rate is usually a certain range, so when I do it again the app automatically says  “hey it looks like you went biking again” so I can just log it! I can also edit it if that wasn’t the case - but it’s a fun feature!

Lots of tracking - in silence. 

Aside from sleep, you can track your fitness, daily steps, meals, menstrual cycle and heart rate. What I like about it, is that I don’t feel the guilt that I did with the apple watch because it wasn’t in my face all the time. It doesn’t vibrate or light up or anything - it’s just there. That’s all the reminder that I need. If I get all my steps great, but if I don’t, that’s okay too - as long as I’m active. I can easily log into the app to see where I’m at any time of day. 

Long battery life

The battery lasts almost a week and it charges super fast! The app lets me know when it’s low on battery, and I just charge it for less than an hour and it’s ready to go again!

A few cons:

It could be bulky. Before you purchase it, they send you a sizing chart with a bunch of different rings that you can try on. Then after you purchase it, they give you that money back towards your purchase of the ring. There’s also a bunch of different colors! It is however a thick ring. They recommend wearing it on your non dominant hand on either your thumb, pointer or middle finger for accuracy. I thought it would be super bulky on me, but it’s not terrible, but for some it might feel bulky.

Sometimes gets in the way

Because it is a bit bulky, when I lift weights sometimes it gets in my way so I have to take it off.

Easy to believe what you see

Some mornings I wake up feeling like I had a good night's sleep, but my ring thinks otherwise. So when I see that data, I start to think well wait maybe I am a little tired or don’t feel as good as I thought I did? I want to make sure I still listen to my body and if I feel good then great! I don’t want the data to completely rule how I feel. However, most times - it truly is spot on with how I’m feeling. 

Honestly, that’s it for cons. I really love the ring and would recommend it for anyone wanting in depth data on their sleep and overall health!