For the longest time, I’ve been resisting trying to track my sleep. My argument has been that I didn’t need something to track my sleep as I was reasonably sure I slept fine….most of the time. I was (I will admit it) a little weirded out by technology that would track when I was sleeping. Yes, even I get freaked out by some of the things that technology does for us. One of my main arguments was, “When would I charge the device??” Typically I charge my devices at night when I’m not going to be using them anyway, so having a device that was supposed to work when I slept was something that I couldn’t wrap my brain around. I don’t have sleep tracking enabled on my watch for precisely this reason. The only sleep tracking device that I was considering looking into was the Oura Ring.
WARNING; LEGAL MUMBOJUMBO!!!! – I am in no way affiliate with Oura Ring. It’s a great product which is why I’m reviewing it. If you decide to get one, I would love to get a comment telling me so, but that’s all I get out of it. ON WITH THE POST!!!!
This is one of those devices that I’d seen on my Social Media feeds nearly constantly, and I was considering purchasing one. When my sister suggested to me to get one and give it a go a few months ago, I figured I would and see what it did for me. I was a little concerned that I would start to obsess over whatever data the ring gave me, and I would lose sleep over the fact that I’m losing sleep….It’s a vicious cycle.1) What the Oura ring is – The Oura rings is…. well it’s a ring, pretty much like it says on the tin. I like that it comes in a couple of different styles and a few metallic colours. What I like about it is that it’s not in your face about its presence. While I LOVE my Apple watch, I can get a little annoyed at getting notifications when I am in meetings. While I know this is something that I can adjust in settings, the Oura ring doesn’t come with too many settings, so it’s straightforward to live with. It doesn’t scream at me or buzz or anything. It just silently collects my activity and sleep data.
1) How it works – When you decide to buy it, they send you a ring sizing guide with a bunch of plastic rings of different sizes. Oura advises that you wear the plastic rings for 24 hours to get used to the size and the ring’s actual feeling on your finger. FAIR WARNING; I found that the plastic ring was a little bulkier than the real ring was, so if you find it a bit bothersome when you’re trying on the plastic rings, know that the actual thing is less bulky, so make sure that you fit for the size on the finger you’re putting it on. Once you determine your size, you order, and they make the ring for you. Mine arrived about a month after I ordered it, but your shipping times may be different. Once it does arrive, follow the instructions to download the app on your smartphone, attach the ring, put it on, and go. It’s that simple. The data will start flowing in on the app, and then you can start making changes to your sleep from there. What I like about it is that I don’t have to charge it all the time. Actually, I have found that I only need to charge it once a week and only for about an hour. I put it on its charger, watch an episode or two of a TV show, and then put the ring back on, and I’m good to go.
2) What it tracks – It’s a smart ring with sensors and gizmos on the inside, which tracks not only your overall movement throughout the day, but it tracks your sleep at night. It also (through technological wizardry, which is beyond my mental pay grade) can track how well you sleep and how long you spend in the three sleep zones of “Light sleep,” “Deep sleep,” and “REM sleep.” It also tracks your activity, giving you a goal to hit based on your gender, age, height and weight. As far as I’ve been able to determine, this is not a figure that can be changed (unless you change your height, weight or age, I’m assuming), but if I’m perfectly honest, I’m OK with not being able to change that.
I’ve lived with the Oura ring for a couple of months now, and I have to say, There are times when I wake up, check my stats and see that I did indeed get a good night’s sleep. Luckily my fear of staying awake worrying about not getting enough sleep (which would cause me to not get enough sleep) didn’t happen. The Oura ring is unobtrusive, which means that I have been able to go through my Day to day life without being affected by it at all. It’s great information to have because I will have high activity, a productive day, and see that it was caused by a good sleep the night before. If you’re looking to track your sleep and need something that will not overly interfere with your life, Oura ring is the way to go.
Do you track your sleep?
Let me know in the comments section below. If you like this blog post and want to see more, you can follow me on Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @jasonlovefiles) or Subscribe to my blog to get new content delivered directly to your mailbox.