Things I have learned with the Oura Ring

I have been wearing an Oura ring for a week. I have been asking myself, “Really; what can a not-very-fit woman in her 60s learn from a fitness ring? Is the Oura ring suitable only for athletes?” 

 

As of yesterday (Tuesday the 12th), I have 8 days of activity data and 8 nights of sleep data. I have tried not to analyze the data overmuch, because the Oura website says it takes weeks to get enough data to form a good baseline [https://help.ouraring.com/getting-started/what-to-expect-from-the-oura-app-during-first-day-and-night-of-use]. Despite that, I have learned some things.

1. The ring makes it hard to ignore how inactive I am, because it shows the timing and patterns of daytime activity, rest, and inactivity.
2. Yes, I have learned there is a difference between rest and inactivity in the day.
3. Reducing sedentary time may be easier than I think.
4. The level of activity/exercise I do engage in is not nearly as intense as I think it is.
5. Wrist tracking of activity and ring monitoring of readiness truly are different models of fitness and do alter the way you think [more on that in a future post].
6. At the end of the day, the ring is a pretty good step counter [MOTIAFP].
7. I am more willing to accept a very small dose of EMF, than I am willing to accept not seeing activity data during the day [MOTIAFP].
8. Sleep measurement on the Apple watch and the Oura ring are a bit different [MOTIAFP].
9. I think it is going to take substantial effort for me to achieve the ideal “hammock” pattern of sleep [MOTIAFP].
10. I think that night-time body temperature will be an interesting feature of health monitoring.
11. Readiness assessment is probably not accurate until many weeks of data are available and then it may be more about signaling ill-health than recommending activity levels/training regimens for people who are not athletes.
12. There are definitely features that I want Oura to add [MOTIAFP].

Dissatisfaction with my Apple watch made me start looking for an alternative fitness tracker. Before I bought the ring I read about the science behind it [https://ouraring.com/the-science-behind-oura/] and a host of reviews from tech folks and athletes [MOTIAFP], but I found almost nothing about its use among women over 60. Hence the desire to write my own blog.