Could This New Ring Be The Final Frontier In Self Quantification, Biohacking, Sleep Tracking, HRV, Respiration & More?

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Podcast, Self-Quantification

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In an article I wrote 2 years ago about the “Top 10 Lessons Learned at Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Biohacking Conference“, I jokingly quipped that…

“…here at the biohacking conference, I’ve seen a little bit of everything, but ultimately, we still need one device to rule them all – a la Tolkien’s magical ring.

In other words, we need one simple wearable unit to be designed that 24-7 tracks heart rate variability, heart rate, pulse oximetry, global positioning, sleep, steps taken, calories burned, respiration, perspiration and skin temperature.”

So I was understandably a bit excited when I discovered the new ŌURA ring. This small, stylish ring uses state-of-the-art miniaturized electronics to track and measure a host of parameters, including sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), activity, body temperature, movement, respiration, and more.

In today's podcast, I interview the Co-Founder and CEO of ŌURA ring: Petteri Lahtela.

Petteri is a serial entrepreneur with 20+ years experience in creating market-leading high-tech products as well as building international businesses and market entries in dozens of countries. He has experience and expertise in Mobile telecoms, Healthcare IT Systems, Medical and Wellness Technology businesses as well as Healthcare and Wellness services.

During our discussion, you'll discover:

-How the ŌURA ring identifies deep sleep, REM sleep, light sleep, and periods of wakefulness, and how accurate this data is compared to actual sleep lab measurements…

-Why the ŌURA ring is designed to allow you to completely disable the bluetooth function, and why the ring is specifically designed to not constantly transmit a signal (very important if you are concerned about electrical pollution)…

-The infrared measurement used to analyze HRV, and why it is just as accurate at measuring HRV as wearing a chest strap…

-How the Readiness Score you get from the ŌURA ring helps you identify days that are ideal for challenging yourself, and those that are better for taking it easy…

-How something called your interbeat interval and pulse waveform can be used to accurately calculate your respiration rate…

-The important data that you can collect about your body using the built-in accelerometer inside the ring…

-How the ŌURA measures temperature, and what kind of health information you can discover by monitoring your body's temperature…

-Why the ring was designed to withstand extremes of environment and temperature, such as hot saunas, cold water, etc.

-How you can use the ring to track daily consumption (caffeine, alcohol, sugar), sleep aids you might be trying (valerian, melatonin, acupuncture) or other factors in your environment (barometric pressure, CO2, pollen count) using something called the Curious platform…

-And much more!

Do you have questions, comments or feedback about the Oura ring, or anything else we discuss in this episode? Leave your thoughts below, and click here to order your Oura ring now.

Ask Ben a Podcast Question

78 thoughts on “Could This New Ring Be The Final Frontier In Self Quantification, Biohacking, Sleep Tracking, HRV, Respiration & More?

  1. Blaine Denton says:

    What episode number is this? I’m not sure if i just can’t see it.

  2. Anae Anderson says:

    I was wondering if you would recommend this Oura ring over the previous devices you mentioned such as the RestWise tracker, Tinke, or emWave2? Do they all accomplish a similar test result if you wanted to test for overtraining? Or would this only be accomplishing the same thing as the Garmin heart rate moniter?

  3. Rand McClain says:

    Can a sleep partner affect the sleep data?

    I continually see suspicious deep sleep results. My theory is that my wife’s movement in bed may be influencing my ring’s data.

    1. Sleep partner's movement in bed does not directly affect the sleep measurement of the Oura ring since majority of the used characteristics is based on pulse waveform, heart rate and interbeat interval (HRV) measurement happening inside the ring. However, if sleep partner is moving a lot, it may indirectly affect the sleep pattern by increasing the restlessness and potentially shorten the deep sleep phases. However, other things affecting own body reactions like late meal, high intensity exercise too late, alcohol or screen time may effect the amount of deep sleep more than sleep partner's movement. Resting Heart Rate curve of the night gives good indication of this as well as HRV trend in readiness detail view.

  4. Sheri says:

    I had a Jawbone UP2 tracker (wrist) and gave it up because it did not accurately detect my sleep. I have insomnia and it would think I was sleeping even though I was just laying still for a few hours a night.

    Can the Oura ring detect the difference?

    How does the Oura ring know if I’m sleeping or just laying awake but still?

  5. Tom Snively says:

    Ben,

    Love your podcast. I got an Oura ring a few months ago. I look at the sleep score and readiness each morning. I also take ~3 minute HRV readiness tests with SweetBeat and with Elite HRV.

    I think Elite HRV’s score is more accurate than SweetBeat, as it gives a lower score both when HRV drops a bit from baseline, but also when it jumps up a bit from baseline. Oura’s score seems strongly focused on sleep. I can get a 10 from Elite HRV, a good score from SweetBeat, and get a low score from Oura.

    Do you get the same discrepancies? How do you deal with that?

  6. Tom Elliott says:

    I really want all of this data, but … I’m very anti-jewelry and this looks like a massive ring. I would frankly feel weird wearing it. Any rumblings about a similar device coming out that doesn’t require making a fashion statement? Figured it didn’t hurt to ask before dropping a few bills.

    Thanks

    1. It’s not too bad really!

  7. Kim says:

    I’ve had my oura ring for a couple months now and I’ve noticed that it doesn’t save all my sleep data. I work the night shift and may get 3-4 hours here and there. It will record my 3 hours of sleep and then if I sleep later in the day for 5 hours it will erase the 3 hour data. I really need a device that will give me feedback of all the hours I slept. Do you know if anyone else has had this problem?

    1. Lauren says:

      Oura reports having fixed this bug.

  8. Brandi B says:

    I recently read a weekly roundup which showcased a new fitness ring called Motiv. What is your take on this on comparison to the oura? I was about ready to purchase the oura until I saw the motiv–I’m impressed by the style but as you have discussed before, I really want something that is low in EMF and don’t want to bombard the body with Bluetooth signals all day–any thoughts?

    1. I have not yet experimented with the Motiv, but really do dig the Oura quite a bit!

  9. It seemed you research showed a correlation in accuracy as compared to a standard sleep study of only 61-62 percent.
    That doesn’t seem to be terribly accurate ..can you clarify ?
    I’m an MD but bad with statistics .
    Also can the graphs of duration of time in deep sleep be seen or is a report issued and same for HR
    I need something where I can pick up accuracy a decrease in N3 as well as if patients waking from runs of SVT
    NCe if both but N3 more important
    Finally how is HR interval tied to calculation of respiration ?
    Thank you

    1. Here's a response from the OURA team: In our paper we report classification accuracy in sleep staging using 30 second epochs. Maybe "Correlation in accuracy" is not the most exact term here. Our classification accuracy was 65-69% on average (dominant hand happened to be more accurate than non-dominant but we did not had data from dominant hand in all subjects). The accuracy improves if we use longer epochs.

      Note that some other manufacturers may have reported accuracy in sleep vs. wake only, which only represents sleep amount and not sleep quality. It is easy to get 90% sensitivity for sleep (e.g. marking whole bedtime as sleep).

      The OURA App displays hypnogram and HR data at 5 min intervals + times accumulated in each sleep stage over the entire night. The ring stores data at higher resolution so our Cloud based Research service that is currently under construction, could enable access to higher resolution data with a modest extra cost.

      Most probably SVT could be seen in interbeat-interval-data but this kind of use cases could require further validation. Would you like to clarify what is NCe?

  10. dave hepp says:

    Hey guys/Chris-

    It’s Dave from the Oura team – Thanks for your interest.

    We’re running a special Black Friday deal through this weekend!

    Get 20% off, plus free shipping, on any of our ŌURA rings.

    Just Use code: BlackFriday at checkout (Ends Monday at Midnight)

    Enjoy!

    1. Luis Lopez says:

      Oh no, I knew about this fantastic ring thanks to this blog, while looking for sleep trackers, but that was last week. I am a listener to Ben’s podcast, but I missed the corresponding episode. All this self quantified movement is new for me. I hope you will have a similar promotion soon, I would like to start the new year quantifying all the sleep hacks that I have planned. I think this ring is worth every penny, but at the current price, it is a little too expensive for me to buy…

    2. Steven, England UK says:

      Any current/up-coming discount codes ?

      Is there a UK provider ?

      1. No UK provider- however here is where they ship too: https://help.ouraring.com/orders-and-shipping/wha…

        Use the link in the post– the discount code is BEN and it is still current.

  11. Chris Sellars says:

    Also, are you aware of a holiday special promotion being offered?

    1. The special code Ben. Though if you contact them and let them know I sent you and you're my friend they may cut you a deal. ;)

  12. Chris Sellars says:

    Does the device come with a warranty?

  13. Mike B says:

    Hey Ben,

    Are you using this on a daily basis? What do you like / dislike about it and why?

    Thanks,

    Mike in Montreal!

    1. I do wear it and use it every day… you can find out more here: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2016/07/how-does…

  14. Michelle P says:

    How is this different from the Jawbone UP3….particulary for sleep tracking?

  15. Leila says:

    Hi Ben, do you know if raynaud’s phenomenon would effect the ring’s measurement for the body temperature and the readiness score?

    Also do you know if there is any plans to make the same device as wrist band type of thing? I do lots of rock climbing and I have been trying to climb with a ring lately to get used to it but it’s not comfortable

    1. Here's a response from the Oura team:: We do not have direct experience on the theme with the ring, but our estimate is that the functioning of the ring apparently depends on severity of the condition, and especially if the associated vasospasm occur during the night. Should be clear that at the times when reduced blood flow occurs the measurement is affected – on the other hand the ring may indirectly give some important information about the condition itself, rather than the features originally designed by OURA, at the times when vasospasm is triggered. We have no plans to make the same device for wrist since it's impossible to get the same accuracy from the wrist. The ring is not at its best in rock climbing for sure. We suggest you to leave it out when doing rock climbing and concentrate on measuring the body reactions to your exercise during the night. It's not that important to measure the load of rock climbing than understanding how your body responds to that and how well it recovers from it.

  16. David Sanz says:

    Hello,

    first of all, I wanted to follow up on the above questions. When can we expect your full review on the Oura? I have a FitBit surge for exercise tracking but the sleep function is disappointing, therefore I´m looking for a good sleep tracker and this is a great candidate but I would love to read your extensive review first.

    In addition I have a couple of questions:

    – Is it possible to wear the ring while lifting weights or is there a risk to break it? I think of barbells and/or dumbells, nothing extreme.

    – Altough it is stated in the podcast that the ring can´t give a diagnosis for sleep apnea: is it possible to find out from the information it provides if sleep apnea can be discarded?

    Thank you in advance!

    1. Much more full review here, check it out (and yes, it works fine to wear while lifting weights!): https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2016/04/how-slee…

      1. David Sanz says:

        Hello Ben,

        thank you for your answer. I have read already that article, but I didn´t find any reference to the first of my questions above. Furthermore I am also interested in knowing if the app shows any HRV readings or only the interpreation it makes of them.

        Thank you in advance!

        1. The new Oura article is coming soon, I don't have an exact date yet.

  17. Sean Galla says:

    Hey Ben,

    Thanks for this! Excited to get an Oura Ring but would love to see your hands-on review first (nobody has done a thourough one explaining how the data works with their life). Any idea when the review will be live? :)

    Some questions I’d love to see answered in your hands-on review (that I can’t find answered anywhere online):

    – Can you see data over a longer period of time? To see that you’ve been making progress over the last few months/6months/1yr based on changes you’ve made?

    – Can it auto detect and label specific activities such as indoor cycling, swimming, yoga, sex etc?

    – The activities display on the app looks extremely basic…

    – Can it track specific training / fitness metrics? For example: someone who wants to build their fitness / endurance. Can it track progress with cycling / swimming etc? Could I see that today I went 2 hrs on the bike at 100 watts with a heart rate of 130 bpm when last month I was only doing 2 hrs at 50 watts with 130 bpm or some kind of relevant measurement? And if not, is one better off getting a training specific tracking device? Or do you have a strategy for using Oura data to make sense of your training progress?

    – The activities page only seems to display “steps”. How does it display activities that are stationary (indoor running. cycling, jet-pool swimming etc?).

    – A big challenge with other HR monitoring wearables like the Garmin Vivoactive HR is that the heart rate monitor shuts off when in water. This is because when water passes between the sensor and the skin it can’t get a reading. Have you found this happen with the Oura when aggressively swimming or doing other water sports?

    – Is there any way you can see the data real time? If I were training and didn’t want to go above a certain heart rate (ex. zone 2), it there any way to see the date (on the app etc) so that I would be aware when I was going above the threshold?

    – Can you see specific data sets (like HRV) to see what its doing? Or is it just the aggregated data on the “Sleep | Activity | Readiness” pages?

    – How calibrated are the daily recommendations? Are they as relevant & accurate for someone who has been sedentary due to an injury as much as they are for someone extremely fit and doing high-training volume daily?

    – Do you actually find the daily recommendations useful?

    – How accurate is it with recognizing and tracking psychological stress from work/family/modern-day life?

    – How accurate do you find the sleep tracking? The founder says 72% gold standard. What were your findings?

    – To be clear, can you turn off the bluetooth signal aside from manual syncing? Their website says you can:

    RING AIRPLANE MODE

    This version contains an experimental, early version of ring airplane mode. You can enable it in the Settings view. In this mode, the ring disables all Bluetooth transmission. To disable ring airplane mode, take the ring from finger for about 15 seconds and then put it back.

    – Have you found the ring clunky or cumbersome at all? Which finger did you find feels the least clumsy and offers the most accurate readings?

    – Can you see continuing to use the Oura in your life on a daily basis moving forward or can you see it being more like the other fitness trackers / calorie counters where you use it for a few weeks / months and get the gist of it and then never look at it again?

    – Any indication as to weather they’ll be coming out with a smaller / less noticeable ring anytime soon?

    – Any indications as to how frequently they will be adding features via software updates?

    – What benefits are there to porting your data from Oura into other platforms like https://www.wearecurio.us ? Have you done this? (looks like fun)

    Thank you so much for this podcast and for the upcoming review. :)

    With gratitude,

    ~Sean

    1. Sean Galla says:

      Also, their website says “ŌURA measures your heart beat only while you sleep.”

      Does this mean it doesn’t track your heart data during the day or during activities?

    2. Here is a very comprehensive response to your questions from Oura and I will be doing a blog post about it soon!

      Before answering the actual questions, it’s good to understand the approach of OURA.

      The main purpose of OURA is to help you to learn how your lifestyle and daily rhythms affect your sleep and how the quality of your sleep affects your readiness to perform – both mentally and physically. OURA provides you with a comfortable way to know how your body responds to your behavioral choices and daily doings, and what you can do to improve recovery from daily mental and physical load – both in short and long term.

      Design and wearing comfort of OURA enables both 24/7 and longitudinal view and access to comprehensive physiological and behavioral data in the context of normal daily life. We are all unique, our genetic heritage and lifestyles are different, and our life situations change over time. Also our body reacts to the mental and physical load of daily life in different ways. Getting enough restorative sleep every night is the basis for good recovery and performance.

      To improve sleep quality it is necessary to understand what affects our sleep and how. We need to adjust our daily behavior according to what our body and mind is capable of as well as what helps us prepare for a good night sleep to recover from daily load. OURA helps you learn how your lifestyle choices affect your sleep and how the quality of your sleep affects your ability to perform during the day. It aims at helping you to balance your sleep, rest and active daily life towards better performance, capacity and long-term health.

      With OURA you will also see how your activities are reflected in sleep parameters and resting heart rate both in short and long term. The readiness of your body to strenuous loading varies significantly from day to day. Some days the focus should be in recovery while some others are perfect for challenging your body and mind in order to increase long-term capacity and fitness.

      The timing, length and intensity of your daytime activities affect each one of us and our sleep quality in different ways. For some people, a high intensity exercise a couple of hours before sleep is good while for others it may have negative effects on sleep quality and restorative effects of sleep. Some people benefit more e.g. of short walk or some relaxing exercise that helps preparing for a good sleep. Since we are all different OURA helps you to learn what is good for you. Also it helps you to understand how this may vary over the time along with the changes of your life.

      By optimizing our physical activity and ensuring good recovery we can maximize our energy levels and ensure performance in the long term. OURA App gives personalized and actionable guidance how you can balance your activity in relation to sleep and recovery. Our body is not ready for 10000 steps every day and some days it has capacity for much more than that. Balancing the physical activity based on the actual needs and readiness of the body provides the way to maintain and increase capacity over time. OURA’s approach to activity is based on the following principles:

      1) The daily activity target is determined based on previous nights’ sleep quality and how well you have recovered from previous days activities.

      2) It is more important to understand how you body reacts to your daily load i.e. physical activities or mental load or both (measure the body reactions during sleep) than to measure all load directly during the day.

      3) The idea is to build long-term balance between daily active life and recovery (sleep and restorative actions during the day) i.e. load and recharge. The activity score is based on contributors that help avoiding sedentary life style and balancing the level of activity both short and long term based on the readiness of the body.

      Here are the answers to your questions:

      – Can you see data over a longer period of time? To see that you've been making progress over the last few months/6months/1yr based on changes you've made?

      Seeing the changes over long periods is at the core of OURA ideology. The trend data is shown in the App and it is easy to compare separate days and see trending values. Cloud API will be available later on for accessing data over a very long period of time.

      – Can it auto detect and label specific activities such as indoor cycling, swimming, yoga, sex etc?

      From the perspective of understanding how your body reacts to your activities it does not have any effect. OURA’s focus is in your readiness to perform. As it measures 24/7 it is actually reaching a reasonable level of accuracy in estimation of daily energy expenditure. The highest priority is to be most accurate in activities that people do most of the time during their days. In order to follow your Readiness, it is important to detect if you had a lazy day with no activity / if you had some activity to support your readiness / more than average activity to maintain or even increase your fitness / excess amount of activity that is challenging your readiness but may help with fitness progress later. OURA’s approach allows you to follow how your body reacts to changes in your training (resting heart rate, body temperature, sleep patterns etc. in the following night). Automatic detection of the different activities will be added later on as ring firmware update and the app will be able to show them. This is trivial from algorithms and SW perspective.

      – The activities display on the app looks extremely basic…

      The detail view of the activity may look simple but actually it is built on a holistic approach to help balance your activity and recovery. The Activity Score of OURA provides consists of six contributors that summarize your activity levels over days and weeks. They help you to stay active and move around to avoid long periods of inactivity to keep your metabolism active throughout the day and avoid symptoms of sedentary life style. The contributors help you to reach your daily targets and optimize your training frequency and volume. ŌURA recommends getting at least 100 MET minutes of medium+ activity a day (100-150 kcal depending on your body weight). This is equivalent to 20 minutes of jogging or 30 minutes of brisk walking. Like Training frequency, Training volume is an essential aspect of maintaining and improving your fitness level. No matter how much you train, the actual fitness progress takes place on recovery days, when your muscles have time to repair and grow. Having a sufficient amount of easier days in your training program boosts your recovery, and can improve your performance in the long run. For ŌURA, an easy day means keeping the amount of medium intensity level activity below 200 MET minutes (200-300 kcal/day depending on body weight), and high intensity activity below 100 MET minutes (100-150 kcal/day depending on body weight).

      Each day ŌURA gives you daily Activity Target based on your age, gender and readiness level. Daily activity graph shows the intensity and timing of your activity throughout the day. ŌURA also tracks the time you spend sitting, standing or otherwise passive, and guides you to break up long periods of inactivity. The distance (mi/km) representing your Activity Target and your progress towards is the equivalent walking distance of your daily movement and Activity Burn. This means that instead of measuring the actual distance travelled, ŌURA shows how far you could walk to burn the same amount of net calories. For example, a 5.6 mi / 9 km Activity Target could be met by getting 4 hours of low activity, 40 minutes of medium activity and 10 minutes of high intensity activity.

      – Can it track specific training / fitness metrics? For example: someone who wants to build their fitness / endurance. Can it track progress with cycling / swimming etc? Could I see that today I went 2 hrs on the bike at 100 watts with a heart rate of 130 bpm when last month I was only doing 2 hrs at 50 watts with 130 bpm or some kind of relevant measurement? And if not, is one better off getting a training specific tracking device? Or do you have a strategy for using Oura data to make sense of your training progress?

      There are no such sports specific metrics implemented currently. OURA helps determining optimal timing for high intensity training, and it provides very valuable recovery specific data from outside of you actual training. The readiness score is a good general marker of readiness to train. For additional interpretations you can make your own interpretations from the resting heart rate data provided by the ring, for example. It could also help you adjust your training based on longer term sleep balance (potential sleep debt).

      – The activities page only seems to display "steps". How does it display activities that are stationary (indoor running. cycling, jet-pool swimming etc?).

      Steps is just one measure in the activity view of OURA. It is one of the least important ones from OURA’s approach perspective. Stationary activities are always a challenge to an accelerometer-based tracker and the OURA ring is no exception. There are also other basic activity parameters besides steps, and we told about our Activity Score that might be the most holistic activity index available. The performance in static activities will be improved over the time, too, but it is not yet the first item on the list.

      – A big challenge with other HR monitoring wearables like the Garmin Vivoactive HR is that the heart rate monitor shuts off when in water. This is because when water passes between the sensor and the skin it can't get a reading. Have you found this happen with the Oura when aggressively swimming or doing other water sports?

      The ring is water resistant to 50m (good for e.g. scuba diving) and tracks your movements in water.

      – Is there any way you can see the data real time? If I were training and didn't want to go above a certain heart rate (ex. zone 2), it there any way to see the date (on the app etc) so that I would be aware when I was going above the threshold?

      Except for the Beta versions meant for specific purposes there is no way to see real time data from the ring at the moment.

      – Does this mean it doesn't track your heart data during the day or during activities?

      The ring currently uses only accelerometer data to log your activity during the day.

      DATA

      – Can you see specific data sets (like HRV) to see what it’s doing? Or is it just the aggregated data on the "Sleep | Activity | Readiness" pages?

      It is aggregated data focusing on making choices and their impact on health and performance easy to understand. Cloud based API will be available and from there it will be possible to access the data.

      OTHER

      – How calibrated are the daily recommendations? Are they as relevant & accurate for someone who has been sedentary due to an injury as much as they are for someone extremely fit and doing high-training volume daily?

      The activity related recommendations are basic recommendations that consider your age, gender and your derived readiness to perform on that day. The activity related contributors of your readiness are scaled according to your long term activity background, but other than that we do not adjust for either extremes of physical capacity (injuries/impaired functionality or athletic performance levels). Even these groups of people might benefit a lot from following their nightly sleep and daily readiness status. There are some other nice training related applications available that can complement the offering of the OURA ring.

    3. – Do you actually find the daily recommendations useful?
      The recommendations will be developed further in coming versions to provide more personalized and actionable guidance based on rich data collected by the ring day and night.

      – How accurate is it with recognizing and tracking psychological stress from work/family/modern-day life?
      From the physiological perspective mental and physical load are both the same i.e. both affect autonomic nervous system balance and are usually quite strongly reflected in sleep, nocturnal heart rate, and even in daily activity patterns. The ring does not need to specifically track psychological stress or differentiate them from your daily life. The target of OURA is to help you prevent the symptoms of chronic stress and avoid the load getting severe. The ring might be valuable if you are interested in understanding these topics better. The functionality of measuring nocturnal heart rate dynamics will be enhanced in future versions to reflect the body reactions in this respect more.

      – How accurate do you find the sleep tracking? The founder says 72% gold standard. What were your findings?
      The validation paper can be sent to those who are interested. OURA is continuously collaborating with the top universities, research organizations and sleep clinics to further develop the algorithms and app towards great user experience and benefit. It is the most accurate commercial sleep monitor, on bar with FDA approved devices.

      – To be clear, can you turn off the bluetooth signal aside from manual syncing?
      You can completely turn off Bluetooth with the flight mode.

      – Any indication as to weather they'll be coming out with a smaller / less noticeable ring anytime soon?
      We intend to stay in business permanently, and that obviously means we will be coming up with new things on the way. However, current focus is on getting the app improved, to fully utilize this first generation of hardware.

      – Any indications as to how frequently they will be adding features via software updates?
      We are aiming at monthly update cycle, with most updates including additional or improved features.

      – What benefits are there to porting your data from Oura into other platforms like https://www.wearecurio.us ? Have you done this? (looks like fun)
      We Are Curious is a platform where you can cross-correlate OURA data with data you input yourself or import from other products or services.

  18. John Withrow says:

    HRV– If I wore the Oura, and had the beddit device and also used the Sweatbeat HRV app with a bluetooth HRM, would they all give “similar” HRV numbers? Do they even use the same HRV “standard” (if there even is such a thing)? Or have they all invented their own terminology and scales so you just have to pick one device and set of terminology and stick with it?

    1. They'll differ a bit. I'm most partial to the algorithm used in NatureBeat and I use that in conjunction with Oura.

  19. Raj says:

    Any plans to go away from the ring? I like everything about this except that it is a big ring. It would be so much better if it was a wrist band like the other wearables.

    1. I wear it during workouts etc and have zero issues! It actually works quite well…

  20. Ed Arias says:

    how about SHOCK? I play racquetball … I’m right-handed. If I wear the ring on my dominant (right) hand, will that compromise ring function? I’d have no prob wearing on the non-dominant hand/finger if SHOCK was an issue.

    1. I shift it to my left finger when I play tennis. Works fine!

      1. Laurent Wels says:

        I got double hand backhand :-(

  21. Ed Arias says:

    Hi Ben, thoroughly enjoyed the podcast … got me interested in hacking my sleep. Interested in purchasing the ring but wondering why the ŌURA Ring Stealth Black is $499.00 while the other “colors” are $299? Does it have extra features like the pulse oximetry you talked about in the podcast? Thansk, Ed.

    1. You get free shipping if you go to http://www.ouraring.com and mention my name in order section…but all colors do the same thing…

      1. Because it's damn cool. ;)

        1. Ed Arias says:

          I paid an extra $300 for black denim on my fat bob, but thats a $16K bike … guess my bike and my ring just won’t match :)

        2. nick says:

          The real answer is because it costs more to produce for whatever reason.

          Do you have any in-depth review of your usage? Is this what you are currently measuring your sleep with? Do you find its more accurate than something like the Garmin Fenix 3 HR that also measures your sleep?

          1. yes, stay tuned for a very in-depth report this Monday.

        3. Ed Arias says:

          nick, thanks for the response. I have a fitbit surge but it really just tracks movement during sleep. I thought the podcast talked about this ring tracking different sleep stages … I’m new to this (and most stuff Ben talks about) but I’m intrigued by the sleep quantification.

          Also, is there a way to get notifications that someone has replied to a post/question you’re part of … since Ben gets the email addy? Just trying to get to speed here.

          1. Hey Ed, there isn't unfortunately! You just gotta keep checking back but I try and reply as soon as possible.

  22. candy says:

    Awesome idea, but subject to the over-promise and under-deliver problems symptomatic of Kickstarters. It’s six months after your post, and almost no one has a ring. One can only hope that the February promise of only one more month (or maybe two) will be true.

    1. Hey Candy,

      Here's a response from Oura:

      First rings were delivered in the end of November but in very small quantities. Kickstarter orders will be fulfilled during this month.

  23. Karen says:

    Looking forward to your review, Ben. I’m looking for something which will allow me to do HRV without having to put on a HR monitor & am wondering if the Oura ring could be an option.

    1. stay tuned! I'll certainly be testing the HRV function!

      1. Terrence says:

        Any review? Following up from your most recent podcast where you mention.

        1. working on yet another article…on the Oura….

          1. Casey says:

            Cant wait for this- Just bought an SR1 and would love to be ale to measure its performance.

  24. tfk says:

    did you get one Ben? would be v interested to know if the hrv stuf works and if the data is open to use elsewhere eg kubios. also is it accurate above 160bpm???

    1. Mine arrives soon! Stay tuned…

  25. Ryan_Baxter says:

    Ben, I don't know if you have or will get an OuraRing, but I'd like to know your hands on experience with the ring, the data available for analysis, and how you use it with your clients that might have one. Maybe someone else has or will post a review of the ring similar to what Ray does at dcrainmaker.com for GPS devices.

    1. I'll have one soon hopefully!

  26. tchazzard says:

    There was mention of being able to disable Bluetooth on the ring. This is certainly not the case. The Oura Ring automatically turns off Bluetooth when it detects sleep and then turns it back on when you wake up. Using a smartphone to turn Bluetooth off would not allow you to communicate with the ring again, turning it into a proverbial rock.

    1. tchazzard says:

      I just checked with Oura, they will be implementing a flight mode feature down the road, but this will not be supported from day one. There will need to be a trigger sent to the ring so it knows when to turn back on.

    2. Response from Oura: "The part about Bluetooth during sleep is correct. However, we do have ring flight mode on our feature list as well. With it you can turn Bluetooth off in the ring, and it stays off until you put the ring in your finger. If it was in your finger when you activated the flight mode, you need to take it off for a moment and put it on again to turn Bluetooth on."

      1. tchazzard says:

        Interesting trigger mechanism to turn Bluetooth back on. This puts new meaning into the term, "Trigger Finger".

  27. bballmax095 says:

    Hey Ben,

    Big fan. Question for you… My mother moved to Aspen, Colorado about 3 months ago. A few weeks ago, she started have pains in her chest. She went to the doctor yesterday, and they said it was her bronchial tube. Any recommendations that could help her?

    Thanks,
    Max Gordon

    1. I'm not a doctor. this isn't medical advice. But if it's inflammation of the bronchial tubes/bronchitis, I'd try an anti-inflammatory herbal approach like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJgn8CTlDg (that's just what I'd personally do)

  28. Jimmyjames23 says:

    Ben, I watched your video on using a tens machine with compression and ice to reduce inflammation. I have bad inflammation in my knee to the point where i can fully flex it after playing basketball. I'd like to get a tens machine but would need a doctors note so that its covered. Do you have any research on hand that I could present to the doc? Or any other suggestions to get the inflammation out of my knee post exercise.

    Thanks Ben Your a savior!

  29. Andreas83b says:

    Hi Ben,

    I was just wondering is there any data out on how accurate the HRV measurement is yet? How does it compare to EKG or even to a chest strap? It was mentioned in the podcast that it was close to a chest strap accuracy but nothing further was said.

    Thanks

    Andreas

    1. It's very accurate. We discuss this in podcast. Far more accurate than the ones that use the phone camera!

  30. Nick says:

    Hey, was this episode somehow available for anyone to download via your nomal podcast a couple of days ago? I got confused as I’m not a premium member but got your update email and was able to download it using my Podcast app on my iPhone.

    1. It sounds like there was a bit of a glitch in the system!

  31. I’m excited for this one. I saw the kickstarter for it and had real interest. I have not had any interest in wearable technology before until I saw this…

    Thanks and safe travels,

  32. Stafford Sterner says:

    Ben,

    How can we download premium podcasts to our iPods or are premium members or is listening to premium content limited to computers and smartphones?

    1. Premium content is normally limited to computers via the webpage. And your smartphone app. Only the iPod touch and any smartphone can get the premium content.

      However, I went and just checked the site – it looks like we are allowing the download of media files at our premium page:
      http://bengreenfieldfitness.libsyn.com/podcast

      So you just needs to download from the webpage and then drag into iTunes and sync with your iPod.

      So yes – you can download and upload to your iPod afterwards!

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