I have owned the Oura Ring for a couple of months now, and it has generated a great deal of both interest and intrigue among a lot of people. It has created a substantial step change in my performance.

What does the Oura ring do?

It has three distinct but important functions:

1. Tracks Your Activity levels (similar to a Fitbit or Apple Watch)
2. Tracks Your Sleep (includes awake time, light sleep, REM sleep and deep sleep)
3. Tracks Your Readiness (so that you can face a demanding or hard day ahead)

Activity Levels

• Activity Score – how active you have been today and over the previous seven days
• Activity Burn – kilocalories burned by daily movement and exercise
• Stay Active – how much you’re been moving around
• Move Every Hour – how well you’ve managed to avoid long periods of inactivity in the past 24 hours
• Meet daily targets – how often you’ve reached your daily targets over the past 7 days
• Training Frequency – how often medium+ activity over the past 7 days
• Training volume – how much medium+ activity over the past 7 days
• Recovery Time – how many easier days do you allow yourself
• Activity Target – the ring gives you a minimum daily activity target based on your age, gender and daily readiness
• Total Burn – your total daily energy expenditure from all activities

Sleep

• Sleep Score – overall measurement on how you slept last night
• Resting HR – the number of times your heart beats per minute when you’ve slept
• Total Sleep – the total amount of time you spent in REM, light and deep sleep
• Efficiency – measurement of sleep quality and its the percentage of time you actually spend asleep after going to bed
• Disturbances – caused by wake-ups and get-ups and restless time during your sleep
• REM Sleep – (rapid eye movement) – essential role in re-energizing your mind and body
• Deep Sleep – the most restorative and rejuvenating sleep stage, enabling muscle growth and repair
• Sleep Latency – the time it take you to fall asleep
• Sleep Timing – the time you get to bed

Readiness

• Readiness – helps you identify the days that are ideal for challenging yourself and those that are better for taking it easy
• Resting Heart Rate – the number of times your heart beats per minute when you are at rest
• Previous Night – how well you slept the previous night
• Sleep Balance – if the sleep you have had over the last two weeks is meeting your needs
• Previous Day – the level of physical activity you did yesterday
• Activity Balance – how your activity level over the past few days is impacting your readiness
• Body temperature – variations in your body temperature at night
• Recovery Index – how long it take for your resting heart rate to stabilise ay night

The changes it has introduced in me:

1. I have replaced my Apple watch with the Oura Ring. This is a shocking revelation for those who know me because I am a self-confessed Apple fanboy. This made the Apple Watch redundant.
2. I get poor deep sleep and given this is restorative sleep, I’m working hard to address this.
3. I am keeping an eye on my regular movement. According to the Oura Ring, I need to walk 9km per day to hit my target, which is approximately 13,000 steps.
4. I bought a standing desk to keep myself from sitting down all day.
5. I am researching my heart rate variability score and on the best ways to improve it
6. I am very conscious on how hard I push myself. If my readiness score is low, I do everything to take things easier and not go overboard with work.
7. I’ve noticed that there is a correlation between body temperature, sleep and if I’m feeling unwell. I noticed that my body temperature shot up when I was bitten by an insect.

What would I change?

• HRV measuring during the day
• Improved algorithm for movement – to differentiate between standing and sitting
• A smaller form factor
• More battery capacity – to prevent charging each day, which only takes about 30 mins
• Ability to record sleep notes (coming soon)

Verdict

It’s an excellent device that has made a significant difference to the things that I’m currently focused on.  Yes, it may be a little bulky and self-conscious for some but the payoff is perfectly worth it for the data and useful advice

You can order the ring at www.ouraring.com

You can learn more about the Oura Ring from their CEO Petteri Lahteala on this podcast: