The Ōura ring
If I’m honest I have had a pretty busy week & haven’t had much time to read or watch TED talks etc so this week I am sharing one of my favourite gadgets & how it has helped me to understand why I feel how I feel.
It’s no surprise that sleep is important to me (I talk about it often enough) & sadly for months good sleep had eluded me. I put it down to a whole raft of things, Covid burnout, time of life, stress, blue light from electronic devices etc.
Then someone recommended the Ōura ring to me.
My initial reaction was, “not another tracking device”. I’ve done lots of them – Leaf, Fitbit, Apple health etc. The 2 challenges were – they were uncomfortable to wear or took effort to wear & charge &/or I couldn’t make use of the information that I got from them.
However, I was desperate, so I took a pun & ordered the ring. That was almost 2 years ago.
I have now been monitoring my sleep & activity for almost 2 years with my Ōura ring, & I have finally arrived at the 3 most important things for me to get a good night’s sleep:
- At least 3 hours between eating dinner & going to bed
- No more than 2 glasses of wine & preferably none – my quality of sleep is so much improved when there is zero alcohol
- Being regular with my sleep time
And I’ve also worked out what doesn’t work or help – Sleepy tea, supplements, getting off devices earlier, doing more exercise & lots of other things might not do any harm, but with me, they don’t seem to have the same level of impact as the 3 things above.
We’re all different so I’m not saying that those 3 things will work for you, but a long term look at what you’re doing & what effect it has, is the best way to work out what works for you.
What I love about it, is that it’s not only telling you what has gone on but the app makes recommendations on how you can maximise how your feel based on what’s going on & therefore you can start to create healthier habits.
Its website touts it as “The most accurate guide on Sleep, Readiness, and Activity.”
I think that might be going a little far but it’s certainly a great tool & unlike other fitness trackers, there’s no screen to distract you & it’s easily worn day & night, being so small & unobtrusive.
Plus with a full charge it will last 3-4 days.
They’re not cheap but the insights it can give you & the affect that can have on your life is priceless.
