I’ve been wearing the Oura Ring now since May 26, 2021. Accept for the night when I needed to charge the ring and the day I left it on my nightstand, I wear it continuously and charge it when I am in the shower. The data collected over time becomes smarter, as the ring tracks patterns and “typical” metrics for you. While it may be a bit on the pricey side, I have found it one of my most important health tools. It is MAKING me want to sleep better, find the connection between when I eat, if I drink, and how that affects sleep. It also shows me that my body needs to recover and allow my heart rate to slow down at night. I don’t feel as guilty about rest days when I don’t work out but do daily movements around the house that count as moving but not at the aggressive level of my 3-4 times weekly Orange Theory classes.

Desktop Login: Oura on the Web

Web-based data trends and graphs are really cool to look at when I log in once a month or so. I use the app daily, but this is a nice way to look at data. I have taken a screen shot of a couple of the graphs, but there is so much more data available thank you would like to look at, I’m sure. You can click any pictures in the gallery for a closer look at the data. I also like to see that my body temp drops at night… it means I am in a cool enough room, my body is in recovery mode, and (right now especially) I don’t have an infection or illness with a fever. At some point, when Covid isn’t a primary concern, I would like to see if the ring does notify me of fever and potential infection.

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There’s An App For That

Not only can you log in and see your trends on the Oura website, but you can see your data on an app linked to your ring. It tracks sleep, activity, and you can take moments for resets and meditations that are also found on the app. One day, my sleep was pretty low, so I took a nap. It added the nap into the app and my rest score went up.

I am a metric driven person…a carrot chaser if you will. If I feel my score isn’t good enough, I will do what it takes to make it better.

I have been making sure I go to bed with enough time to get Optimal sleep. I try not to eat dinner too close to bed as I have seen my metabolism in gear doesn’t allow my heart rate to get low enough early enough in the night. If I drink more than a serving of wine, my sleep is TERRIBLE! Most days, alcohol isn’t worth good sleep…almost all days actually.

Having an app with access to my health data at my fingertips has been a game changer for me. My health isn’t just about killer workouts every day and how many calories I consume. I have increased my appreciation for rest and meditation.

Let me also say, this is not a sponsored post. I wasn’t asked to share and I don’t get any commission off anyone who purchases an Oura ring based on this write up. I just want to share things I am passionate about and help people make informed decisions.

I also would like to note that the customer service at Oura is great. My first ring was ordered for my index finger and I decided I’d rather have one that fits my ring finger. I was able to make a one time size exchange on my ring. Also, I recommend getting the sizing kit. Because of the sensors in the ring, it won’t fit like a traditional ring size. I was surprised by the ring size I needed for a snug but comfortable fit. Once you email them the ring size you’d like after ordering the size kit, the ring ships quickly. It’s not worth being in a hurry to get the ring and skip the sizing piece, in my opinion.

The Oura Blog

The Oura Ring site has a blog with wonderful articles about health and wellness. There are so many categories to choose from when looking at their blog such as Women’s Health, HRV (Heart Rate Variability), Illness, and Sleep. The articles do talk about how the Oura ring can help you identify your own health metrics, but I have found them very interesting when learning about my own health and why markers in my data are important….What is HRV anyway?

Oura in the News

I first heard about Oura when the NBA said it was using the ring to help get back in the game. Time Magazine listed it as one of the best inventions of 2020. Healthline did a complete review of the ring here.

In the end, would I get the Oura ring again. Definitely. Will it make me a super athletic, tone and fit muscle model? Absolutely not. What it does for me, is help me to see how my behaviors during the day effect my sleep. The older I get, the more I value precious, wonderful sleep. It’s up to me to change the behaviors that come into play with a good night of zzzz’s, but seeing the impact in a numeric metric is definitely evidence enough for me to make changes.