Like many of you, my health journey consists of continual work, evolution, and self-experimenting, on a quest to be the best version of myself and optimize my overall health. Over a year and a half ago, I set out to dive deep with a focus on my sleep. I was questioning whether I was actually getting deep restorative sleep. Historically, I would say that my sleep was good because my eyes were closed and I never woke up in the middle of the night. But I rarely felt well-rested and my overall energy throughout the day was “meh.” I also found myself seeing more patients who were complaining about sleep issues, stress, and anxiety. Here’s the deal – we’ve adopted a mindset that is all about hustle, take on more, get things done, I’ll sleep when I’m dead. And as a result, we’re seeing more and more burnout, inability to adapt to daily stressors, and inability to make decisions, along with clinical problems like hormone imbalances, infertility, autoimmune, anxiety, and depression being on the rise.
Knowing and believing that quality sleep is vital to our overall health, and after plenty of research, I decided to invest in an Oura ring, and it has by far been a game-changer in my life. The Oura ring is a wearable wellness device best known for tracking sleep. The metrics that Oura gathers are the tried and true markers that provide insight into your current state of health and prevention, such as heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, and body temperature. For sleep, it measures your three main sleep stages – Deep, Light, REM and will detect any moment you may wake up and the exact time. With this real-time data, Oura then creates a personalized graph that explains your findings along with recommendations to help improve sleep based on timing, hours spent in bed, and lifestyle factors that impact sleep.
I have always been interested in using and leveraging technology to improve my health and wellness journey. What once was only available at fancy expensive doctors’ offices, you now can have access on a daily basis. For me, the Oura ring has allowed me to take a more data-driven approach to my health and wellness practices. By tracking my sleep and other health metrics, I have been able to make more informed lifestyle decisions, build new habits, be more consistent with my behaviors, and actually see firsthand what impacts my sleep. This is the epitome of personalized lifestyle medicine. And knowing that I have access to this daily information makes me feel more in control of my body.
Here are three things I love about the Oura Ring and the data it provides:
- It provides me with a holistic view of my health. HRV is one of the best markers to know on a regular basis. It is like a mini stress test and a predictor of chronic disease. HRV is best measured while sleeping, and with this, I can see how my sleep, activity levels, and stress levels are all interconnected. This has helped me to identify patterns in my behavior and make adjustments accordingly. For example, I have noticed when practices like meditation and deep breathing are helpful, if I eat too late what it does to my sleep, If i have a stressful day…. All can provide valuable information on their impact on sleep. By being aware of this pattern, I can take steps to manage my stress levels during the day and improve my sleep quality at night.
- Another great feature of the Oura ring is the readiness score. This is a culmination of all the measurements from the night before, indicating how well your body is prepared for the day ahead based on your sleep quality and other health metrics. By tracking my readiness score over time, I have been able to identify the lifestyle factors that help me feel my best, what type of workout is appropriate for that day, and whether I need to rest and take it easy.
- When you use Oura for some time, it understands what your normal is. Based on this, it can detect the slightest changes in your HRV, heart rate, respiratory rate, and internal body temperature. When these have slight fluctuations, there are patterns that could indicate your body’s immune system is being challenged even before you display symptoms! What does this mean? A couple of times I have been able to detect if my body was fighting something early enough where I could intervene with rest, hydration, and my immune-boosting supplements to knock it out before it turns into something. Boom!
Overall, I have been very impressed with the Oura ring. It has been a valuable tool in my health and wellness journey. I have since had many patients enter the Oura world, and we are able to analyze their findings together in order to create more personalized recommendations that will up-level their health plan. Other features that Oura offers are:
- Activity level, calories burned, movement recommendations, and reminders.
- A database of meditation and mindfulness exercises that measures real-time heart rate and HRV to see your response to calming practices.
- For women, reproductive health insights that measure temperature trends during different phases of your cycle as well as their latest feature of “Period Prediction.”
If you are interested in using technology to up-level your health and wellness journey, I would highly recommend checking out the Oura ring. It is a powerful tool that can provide you with valuable insights and help you to make more informed decisions about your health. Whether you are looking to improve your sleep, manage your stress levels, or simply feel better every day, like me, the Oura ring can help you achieve peak performance and vitality.
You can learn more about Oura and receive a discount by clicking my exclusive link. *Discounts are limited.
