I’ve been wearing my Oura Ring since February and wanted to finally give it a full review here since I’ve learned a ton from using it. Anel has been wearing one for years and has been encouraging me to jump on the Oura train for as long. I had to throw him a “you were right” once I tried it for myself and ended up finding it very helpful.
Note that they have no affiliate program so I stand to make zero dollars on this post!
Let’s start with the looks… It’s aesthetically not terrible but also not my favorite. I have it in gold (pictured on my pointer above) and Anel wears the matte black version. If you’re feeling extra chic and spendy, Gucci did a collaboration with Oura to create this $1000 gem.
But aesthetics aside, it tells you a lot about your body, health, activity, rest, and sleep. I have found that information to be incredibly useful because I’m able to see exactly what I need to tweak for a better night’s sleep or to feel most energized during the day.
Before I give you my personal thoughts, here are a few things to know:
Sizing
When you buy your ring, they send you a kit to get the right size for your finger. I highly recommend wearing it for a full day and overnight on the finger you think you want it on to make sure it’s comfortable. It takes a few days to get used to but sizing is really important so don’t just throw it on for a second and decide on your size.
When to Wear It
I wore mine 24/7 for the first two months and got a lot out of that. Now I only wear it at night because I also have the Apple Watch to track my activity. I realize I’m not getting the full potential out of the Oura and should probably try for 24/7 again but for now this is what’s working for me.
Scores
Each day the Oura gives you three “scores” to guide you through the day:
1. Sleep score: Your sleep score answers, “how’d you sleep last night?” by analyzing your deep sleep, REM sleep, light sleep, nightly heart rate, bedtime schedule, and more.
2. Activity score: Your Activity Score answers, “how are you balancing your activity, inactivity, and rest?” by analyzing your daily movement, how much rest you’re getting, and more.
3. Readiness score (my favorite): Your Readiness Score answers, “how much can you and your body take on?” It takes into account your sleep, activity, and body stress signals like body temperature and HRV.
I pulled that copy from their website to best describe the scores, FYI.
Sleep (where I’ve learned the most!)
Sleep is the whole reason I bought the Oura ring in the first place and let me tell you, have I learned a thing or two. I’ve struggled with insomnia and a whole host of sleep issues for my entire life. Since being on anxiety medication, it’s improved dramatically, but the Oura has helped me even further by teaching me when to eat in relation to bedtime for the most restful sleep, what temperature to keep my room, and so much more.
It measures how long it takes you to fall asleep, how much deep sleep, REM sleep, and light sleep you get, your resting heart rate, HRV, and more.
The coolest feature about sleep, IMO, is that the ring learns about your sleep and based on nights when you’ve had your best sleep, it shares personalized guidance on when to start winding down to improve your sleep quality. For me, it’s around 7:30, way earlier than I had started in the past. This isn’t always possible, of course, but it’s a good gauge.
What seems to affect my sleep the most is if I eat or drink alcohol too late. Call me an old lady but if I eat dinner after 7:30, my sleep score goes way down. And if I have more than one adult bevvy? Forget it. Seeing those numbers correlate exactly to the way I feel somehow motivates me to make better decisions.
The other huge thing I’ve learned about my own sleep is that I get almost all of my deep sleep within the first few hours of falling asleep so that portion of my night is hugely important for how I feel the next day. The perfect sleep concoction for me to elongate my deep and REM sleeps includes one magnesium supplement and 1mg of melatonin.
Period Predictor
This is one of my favorite random features of the Oura ring. I tracked my cycles closely when TTC but those days are now over and I don’t even think about when my period might start. Luckily the Oura app let’s me know when it’s about to come which is helpful… and often explains my unnatural rage towards my husband 🙂
If you are TTC, it would be extremely helpful for that too. Because it’s tracking your temperature, it would take a lot of the guesswork out of when you’re ovulating.
Rest Mode
When you’re sick or under the weather for any reason, the Oura figures it out and asks if you want to be put on “rest mode” where it encourages rest instead of physical activity. When I was sick in March, this was great. It kept reminding me to get my rest in.
Meditations
On top of all the measurements and tips, the app that comes with the ring has guided meditation sessions for sleep, energy boosts, creativity, calming, and so much more. The coolest part of these meditations is that if you do them with the ring on, you can literally see how your body responds to each one.
My review
Overall I really like the Oura ring and the information it provides. I wish I liked the look more because then I would wear it in the daytime as well but I might just need to get over that and go for it. I do like that it’s a ring instead of a bracelet because it’s comfortable to sleep in and pretty low-profile.
I know I could be getting a lot more out of it if I wore it all day but what it’s given me in relation to sleep is already worth the price tag. It has made me feel more in control of my nights, and I have never in my life slept better!
