Charging the Oura ring

Using data from the Oura ring means having a regimen of charging, syncing, and looking at the data and the recommendations. The whole point is to look at patterns and plan accordingly; right? 

 

Before I purchased the ring, I read a lot of reviews and descriptions of users’ experiences. Using that information, I decided to wear the ring 24/7 and take it off first thing in the morning, put it on the charger while I was getting dressed, sync it, and look at the data/recommendations before starting my day. I had a handy outlet and shelf for the charger in my bathroom. After a few days, I realized that regimen didn’t work for me.  

 

One of the problems was that at night, the app was starting a sleep period during the time I spent meditating or reading before I went to bed. The next morning I would have to trim 30 minutes to an hour off of the beginning of the sleep period and then resync and recalculate the sleep data. 

 

I moved the charger to my nightstand. I put the ring on the charger for a few minutes in the morning and look at the data and recommendations for a few minutes.

 

However, at night as I am getting ready for bed, I put the ring on the charger for 20 minutes to an hour. During this time I look at the day’s activity data and the app’s recommendation and make a plan for the next day. Then when I am ready to turn the lights out, I put the ring on. This means that the time I spend reading in bed or looking over the days’ data are not counted as inactive time or, more importantly, as awake time during a sleep period. This gives me an accurate assessment of the time it took me to fall asleep (sleep latency) once I turn out the lights and fall asleep.

 

Using this regimen, the ring starts the night with a full charge and uses about 5% to 7% of the charge over the next 24 hours (less if I put it in airplane mode).