What if you knew how well you sleep at night and how to improve sleep quality? What if you woke up and had a readiness score for your day, telling you exactly what to do to have the best day possible? Oura Ring is like a sleep lab, period tracker, health monitor, and more in one unique piece of jewelry.
What is an Oura Ring?
As the name implies, Oura Ring is a ring that tracks many of the other metrics that other fitness trackers do. While wearing the ring you can track:
- Heart rate including active and resting heart rate.
- Respiratory rate.
- Skin temperature and fluctuations.
- Sleep patterns – including how long it takes to fall asleep, your sleep efficiency, the time spent in each sleep stage, and overall quality of sleep.
- It now tracks naps and includes them in overall sleep data for the day.
The ring is available in a variety of finishes and is sized as you would any other ring.
What is the Oura Ring Good For?
The Oura Ring is as good as an Apple Watch or other fitness tracker to get a general idea of your overall health based on key data points. In addition to the features listed above, the Oura Ring generation 3 can:
- Track body temperature with 7 sensors.
- Help with period (menstrual cycle) prediction.
- Track blood oxygen levels during activity and sleep.
- Monitor how the body responds to stress and exertion.
When connected to the app, the Oura Ring also provides guided meditation sessions for better sleep, increased energy, a greater sense of well-being, and improved focus.
Do Oura Rings Really Work?
The best answer to this question is yes, no, and maybe as there are areas where the ring is excellent, areas where it is average at best, and areas where it is completely useless.
Where it excels is in sleep tracking and scoring. It is not the most accurate sleep tracking device on the market but is among the most comfortable to wear overnight. Most people find the watches and other trackers to be bulky. In an Oura Ring Review that appears in the New York Times, the reviewer found the ring to be almost imperceptible when it was on.
Where the Oura Ring is in the fair to average range is with other aspects of health insights including things like temperature and oxygen levels.
The worst aspects of the ring are in actual fitness tracking. According to the same review, step counting and other movements may be wildly off target with small movements being counted when they shouldn’t be or some types of movements not being counted at all.
Another problem with the ring is that it is made of metal and the average person’s finger may change size by one half to one whole size several times during the day. A finger’s size can be affected by temperature, fluid intake, foods, and activity.
Is Oura Better than Fitbit?
Whether the Oura Ring is better than Fitbit depends on what you are using it for and what you expect to learn from it. The key to any wearable tracking device is learning and how to improve some aspect of your health and wellness.
Where they are the same:
- Both track sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability, and other metrics.
- Both give an overall picture of sleep quality and ways to improve it.
- Both can be worn 24/7 although the Fitbit recommends removing it for showers.
- Both have decent battery life and charge quickly when needed.
Where they differ:
- The Oura ring is worn on the finger only.
- The Fitbit is typically worn on the wrist but there are options that allow it to be worn in other places.
- The Fitbit comes with a variety of band options allowing you to change for comfort or for style.
- All of the information from the Fitbit is available immediately right on the screen.
- The Oura does not have immediate information as you must access the app to get your sleep score and other data. The app is an additional cost.
- Oura’s app is available on iOS, Android, and Google. Fitbit is not currently available for Google at this time.
How Much Does the Oura Ring Cost?
Available in 4 finishes as well as an option with diamonds, the Oura Ring will cost between $299 and $399 and comes with the charger. Before you buy, you will be given a ring sizing kit so that you can choose the right size. Keep in mind that you will need to base your decision on the size that is the most comfortable for 24 hours.
The diamond option is much harder to find and is considerably more expensive at nearly $1000. It does not do anything extra.
In addition to the ring itself, you will have the cost of the Oura app. The app is free for six months if you purchase from the Oura website and will cost $5.99 per month afterward. The app is crucial as there is no other way to get your information without it.
How Can I Save Money on the Oura Ring?
You can save money on the ring by buying the basic silver or black finish. Oura does offer some sales and promotions throughout the year but they are not found on a regular basis. Coupon codes are listed on the internet on a variety of websites although these are not always accepted by Oura.
Make sure to make your purchase with a cash back credit card so you’re not leaving any money on the table.
You can also earn cash back rebates for your purchase. Shopping rewards sites like Rakuten, MyPoints, and Swagbucks offer cash back rebates ranging from 1% to 20% at 1000’s of featured stores.
Final Thoughts on the Oura Ring
For people who are interested in improving their sleep and monitoring their heart rate, there are many options. Unfortunately, some of those options are uncomfortable and may feel bulky, snag on clothing, and just be more pain than they are worth. Some people just cannot stand to have something on their wrists especially at night.
While the Oura ring is certainly not the smallest, thinnest option especially compared to a regular ring, it is one of the best when compared to other ring-style wearable trackers. If it can help get even one hour of improved sleep, it might be worth it for people who have struggled with issues for months or even years.
Overall, it looks pretty cool with an almost science fiction kind of flair to it, plus the guided sessions are a big bonus for anyone, even people who are already champion sleepers.
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