What is The Oura Ring?
The Oura Ring Gen 3 (the model I'm currently testing) is a sophisticated wearable device designed to monitor and enhance various aspects of health and wellness. By tracking over 30 biometrics, including heart rate, body temperature, and movement, it reports to offer users comprehensive insights into their sleep patterns, activity levels, and overall health.
One of the standout features of the Oura Ring is its advanced sleep tracking capabilities. According to the website it utilizes infrared photoplethysmography sensors, it measures heart rate and respiration with 99% accuracy, providing detailed analyses of sleep stages and quality. This information allows users to make informed decisions to improve their rest and recovery, and is proported to be more accurate than wrist health wearables.
In addition to sleep monitoring, the Oura Ring reports that it excels in activity tracking. Its 3D accelerometer is supposed to capture daily movements, helping users understand their activity levels and encouraging them to achieve personalized fitness goals. Ifst this ring is as accurate as it reports it would be able to give users the information to have a better, more restful night sleep and be better prepared to activity and health during the day-Two of the biggest lifestyle changes I often discuss within therapy.
For women, the Oura Ring offers specialized features such as menstrual cycle tracking, period prediction and ovulation tracking. It reports that by analyzing biometrics like skin temperature, it delivers contextual insights into the follicular and luteal phases, accurately predicting period start dates and fertile windows.
This tends to be the number one reason I've seen women purchase and use the Oura Ring, for safe and hormone free fertility tracking. I will continue to update this blog for more information, on how I find it's accuracy use and
My motivation to explore the Oura Ring comes from working closely with many women interested in health technology. My goal is to provide an honest review of its effectiveness in areas such as sleep monitoring, activity tracking, and menstrual health insights. By sharing my personal experience, I hope to offer valuable information to those considering integrating this technology into their wellness routines. This first blog will be from the first 24 hours of use and I will continue to update on my usage!
First Impressions
I originally purchased the Silver Horizon Gen 3 Ring; being just a therapist I chose the Gen 3 as Oura was having a sale due to the Gen 4 just coming out! They send the sizing kit first to ensure you pick the proper size. When I went to submit my size (8 in case you were curious) I found that they didn't have my size in the finish I chose, customer service in the form of an AI Chat bot was surprisingly helpful and they offered to let me choose a different finish at no extra cost to me. I chose the Brushed Titanium which should have cost an additional $50 but they were true to their word and was not charged extra!
When I first opened the box and pulled the ring out I found that it was much lighter than I had expected (having switched to titanium should have alerted me to the weight but alas I forgot). It is nice looking albeit a little chunkier than I expected. The amount of technology packed into this little ring is alarming and I'll admit I was skeptical that it does everything that it reports to do. I've been using an Apple watch for years, and a fitbit before that so I'm used to wearables and being able to track HR/Sleep etc but the Oura Ring is supposed to be able to track even more.
Set up for the ring was alarming easy, even for a moderate luddite like myself. Plug the charger in, put ring on charger and download the app. It all went smoothly, the only added work was to put my credit card in for when my prepaid year was over. That was genuinely it. I put the ring on my finger which had more than 75% charge and called it a day.
Key Features and Functionality
Sleep Tracking: Since I set my ring up in the late afternoon of a Saturday I didn't have the opportunity to do much to test it out, so bedtime was it's first real 'test.' Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it was both a Saturday (a couple adult beverages) AND daylight savings--and if are new here; I have two young kiddos-so my sleep was needless to say, not the best.
Some of the research I've done about the Oura is that it improves with usage, but often people will report their stats seem good off the bat then within a few weeks or so they decline. I'm assuming this is due to the tech learning your behavior, and in general we Oura less healthy than we typically think we are, but we will see!
Activity Monitoring: This was unintentionally good timing. I was planning on a longer run this weekend due to training for a half marathon, and with the weather on Saturday it had to be pushed to Sunday (today). So I was able to go for my 4.67mi run with the ring on. I have to admit I was nervous so I still wore my apple watch so I could track my run, if the ring didn't catch it.
My fears were unfounded as it was impressive, and I think my watch was just getting in the way because the family went for a walk in the park after and that data is better than my imported data from my apple watch
The app asks users to CONFIRM if the tracked exercise was accurate, and gives the option to edit it, if needed. I'm able to fix it if it was housework, or walk or snowshoeing etc.
Health Metrics: I haven't been using it enough to get data for this. The app says for various metrics I need to wear it for 7 days, so I will keep you posted!
Daily Usage Experience
Data Accuracy: I believe this will take several weeks if not months to truly get an idea of.
App Interface: App so far is very user friendly and everything is clickable, sso if I don't know what they mean by Latency. I can click into it and it will give an explanation of what it is, AND how they track it.
Battery Life: It reports to last up to 7 days, I'm not started from fully charged so I'll be happy to last a few nights. In comparison my older version of the Apple watch doesn't last for a whole day, especially if I log a work out so, so far so good!
Impact on Lifestyle/Conclusion
Having only just opened and started using the ring hasn't had an impact on how I function or live right now. I will be continuing to blog about how it works, and it's impact on my life. Below are the categories I hope to be able to discuss in the future, stay tuned!
Sleep Habits
Activity Levels
Overall Well-being
Pros and Cons/Advantages and Limitations
Disclaimer: This blog post is based on my personal experience with the Oura Ring Gen 3. It is not sponsored, endorsed, or affiliated with Oura in any way. All opinions shared are my own, and this review is intended for informational purposes only. Please do your own research and consult with a healthcare professional before making any decisions regarding your health and wellness tools.
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