The Oura Ring become one of my favorite tech purchases. I was a little apprehensive because of its hefty price tag but ultimately gave in after doing some research and deciding it would be something that could benefit me every day. The Oura app contains four main sections: Readiness, Sleep, Activity, and Resilience.
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Every morning, I check my Readiness Score to see how well I’ve recovered mentally and physically. I also check my Sleep Score, which measures how well I’ve slept the previous night. The smart ring also tracks different stages of your sleep throughout the night, including the time you were awake, REM sleep, deep sleep, and light sleep. There is even an option to check breathing regularity during your sleep, as the ring detects variations in your blood oxygen levels.
I’ve found that the Readiness and Sleep Scores help me figure out whether I should take it easy or prepare for an action-packed day. For example, after getting off a plane and feeling jetlagged for the following days, I noticed my Readiness and Sleep Scores were in the “Pay attention” range and focused the rest of the week on resting and recharging. Within the next couple of days, I was able to get my scores back to the “Good” and “Optimal” ranges.
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Oura now also has a Resilience feature that tracks how well you bounce back from physiological stress. This is calculated by using two weeks’ worth of data that are made up of the averages of your Daytime stress load, Daytime recovery, and Nighttime recovery. You can view the status of each individually and track your Resilience on the graph over time. Currently, the Oura Ring is $40 off on Oura’s website.