Oura Ring: The Unsuspecting Device for Monitoring Your Health

What is The Oura Ring?

The Oura Ring is a revolutionary piece of technology that can be worn as a ring to monitor a user's health by measuring and tracking physiologic data. The many metrics measured by this simple device include heart rate, body temperature, respirations, sleep cycles, menstrual periods, and physical activity. This data is then compiled to cater personalized recommendations and feedback on how best to enhance the user’s lifestyle. Advice is given through guided audio sessions, educational videos and slideshows. With regular use, it has proven to be an effective tool for the many users seeking to manage their personal health and keep their lifestyles balanced!

The Oura Ring and COVID-19

With the rise of COVID-19, monitoring public health became a critical concern as the virus caused symptoms varying sometimes only slightly over a time period. The University of California San Francisco sought to investigate this issue and partnered with Oura to detect early COVID-19 symptoms among over 2,000 frontline healthcare workers in 2020. The early warning signs of a COVID-19 infection were detected through body temperature, respiratory rate, and heart rate, all of which the Oura Ring not only detected, but interpreted results for longer term patterns. The research team hypothesized that the Oura Ring could anticipate COVID-19 onset up to two or three days before more obvious signs and symptoms, such as coughing. This foresight with the Oura Ring appears to be a revolutionary finding that may help to minimize our current public health concern, in addition to many others. With continued fears of new variants and waves, the Oura Ring may just be a reliable early detection device, both for personal use and in the academic and epidemiologic fields of research!

Sporting the Oura Ring in Sports

The Oura Ring’s potential is not only limited to academia and various fields of research, as it also may play a role in sports training and athletics. Oura has partnered with many sports companies in order to improve the health of their athletes. In fact, its nuanced technology is recognized, recommended, and utilized by some of the biggest sports leagues on the globe. In 2020, Oura became the official health technology partner of NASCAR. NASCAR emphasizes the extreme conditions faced by drivers during training and competitions, most notably temperatures of 134 degrees inside the car and their non-breathable fire suits. During a single race, these drivers can lose about 7 to 10 pounds whilst experiencing significantly elevated heart rates compared to the norm. 

Keeping in mind the dangerous conditions experienced by these athletes, NASCAR’s sports medicine physician consultant connected the company with Oura. This provided the league with a health risk management platform (HRM) to assign risk scores that indicate the likelihood of illness and associated symptoms. In the case of unsteady risk scores, Oura is programmed to send an alert directly to athletes, thus informing them to take precautions and follow recommended next steps (such as isolation or seeking immediate medical attention). 

Not to mention, the Oura Ring’s HRM platform is also used by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). For these leagues performing nationwide, the technology monitors the hundreds of athletes pushing their bodies to the limits, as well as collecting general public health data within the league.

How Else Can Oura Ring Help You?

The Oura Ring tracks the quality amount of sleep you receive and your overall activity throughout the day, and communicates this data as your readiness score. It contains sophisticated embedded sensors that mimic a polysomnography, which is known to be the gold standard of sleep-measuring instruments in laboratories and research facilities. With a long battery life, it can sustain itself for up to a week without recharging and simultaneously tracking one’s health needs. The elegant and sleek design makes the Oura Ring optimal for daily wear, allowing for use without distraction or hindrance. If you wish to learn more about the Oura Ring, visit their website: https://ouraring.com.

In Conclusion

The Oura device for monitoring health is a revolutionary piece of technology that has already played a major role in research and public health. The device possesses considerable potential for the future as well, and is available for both professional and private use with easy-to-access features and resources for our patients. Monitoring your individual health is the first step to staying healthy, and the Oura ring may provide an easy way of achieving this!

Written By: Aaliyah Sherfuddin

Edited By: Camden Rowe