As an early adopter of the Oura Ring 2, I have had this for a couple of years. Here is my long-term review of the Oura Ring. It has been on my finger almost every day since I got it. It doesn’t matter if I wash the car, swim in a pool, hang at the beach, ride my Onewheel, or am at work, the ring tacks me during the day and especially the night.
As a father of a five-year-old, this ring has made me aware of the importance of sleeping and taking care of my body.
Oskar Fällman
First, let’s break down what is and isn’t. The Oura ring is not a fitness tracker, it’s a sleep tracker with some fitness features.
How Does the Oura Ring Work?
The Oura ring works by using a LED light to measure the blood pulse volume in your finger. This is then used to calculate your respiratory rate, heart rate, and heart rate variability. When it was released it was one of the few devices having HRV heart rate variability.
A temperature sensor is reading your body temperature during the night. The ring doesn’t look at the exact number but shows you if your body temperature is above or below your normal. This could indicate an upcoming cold, period or need for more recovery.
The ring tracks the movement of the hand that’s wearing the ring.
Sleep Scores
All these parameters are then used to create the scores, Sleep quality, Activity, and Readiness.
Sleep quality: Calculated based on what time you’re lying in bed, for how long, how much you move around in bed, and how your breathing, temperature, and heart rate measurements vary during that time. It also attempts to break that sleep into different stages: light, REM, and deep sleep.
Activity: Calculated based on periodic (not continuous) monitoring of your heart rate and how much you move your hand.
Readiness: Calculated based on trends in your resting heart rate, HRV, respiratory rate, and body temperature.
From my point, I seldom use the scores to determine my status, even if they mostly correspond to my own findings. The main parameters that I track are the Temperature and HRV.
How Does the Oura Ring Look, Feel and Fit?
One of the key selling points and why I got the Oura over the other health and sleep trackers was the design. Having a ring on your finger makes it out of the way. It looks stunning and most people think it’s normal jewelry.
I have never slept comfortably with a watch or armband. Tried to do it with the Xiaomi mi band 4 but it didn’t feel comfortable during the night. The ring just sits on the finger without moving around or discomfort. You don’t feel that it’s there and it will become a natural part of your hand, like a wedding ring or other jewelry.
The Oura Ring comes with a sizing kit for you to test your correct size. It’s recommended to choose a size that works on two fingers as your fingers can change size over the day, temperature or if you change weight. I have my ring on my left index finger, it does fit a bit more snugly on my right-hand ring finger in case I need to swap.
Having your ring slip off your finger is the last thing you want. It actually happened once for me but I could receive the ring from the garbage bin with the help of a Bluetooth finder.
Using it every day
The Oura ring has stayed on my finger almost every day since I got it. As the Oura Ring is waterproof I have it on when I wash my hands, do the dishes or shower. Yea I even use it when swimming in the pool.
Yes, it does get scratched over time so think about the color when you get yours. In regards to size and colors, then there is no difference between the Oura Ring 2 and Oura Ring 3. The silver ring will get a nice platina, and can be buffed to remove some of the minor scratches. The other colors will show wear over time as the coating gets scratched.
That’s why I always recommend getting the silver ring over the other color options, here is a more in-depth guide on choosing the color for your Oura Ring.
Membership Cost and Fees
The price of the ring was $300. This can be considered a hefty price, still, nothing at the time came close to the design, functions, and features of the Oura Ring.
The old Oura Ring 2 and the original Oura Ring didn’t have any membership. Today the Oura Ring 3 also comes with a membership of $5.99/month to enable the core functions. This makes the price of the ring a lot more expensive.
You can use the Oura Ring generation 3 ring without a subscription but you will be losing a lot of the key features and it´s not something I recommend.
Battery life
The battery life is good from the start and the company advertised a battery life of up to seven days when it’s new. It will vary depending on the age of the ring and what features I use during the day.
Now after 3 years, the ring will need to be charged every day, this can still be considered fine and the charger makes this easy. Just take it off a bit before bedtime and it will be ready for the next day.
Did it improve my sleep?
In short, yes actually, when it comes to improving your sleep it’s all about what actions you take with the information at hand.
Tracking your sleep will increase the likelihood that you take these actions. Like it did become obvious that alcohol really impacts recovery and sleep, even if it’s only one glass in the evening.
Late-night training actually had the same impact as drinking and my body is in recovery mode long into the night. There are of course some other benefits from training, but I didn’t know that late night had such an impact on my sleep. With this, I highly recommend working out earlier in the day or morning.
“It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious.”
Dr. Walker
Conclusion
Yes, I do recommend people to get an Oura Ring if they are serious about their sleep and health. It can catch colds or covid, it will show when you are not taking care of your body. Still, the key is like any technology device, if you don’t act upon the data, then the data is of no use.
I do think more about my rest and have seen improvements. As a father of now a five-year-old, I have come to understand the importance of a good night´s sleep.
As doe the ring, It’s a great conversation starter and still a cool piece of technology even if the competition is closing in.
