We all have heard how magical and accurate Oura’s sleep tracking is. There have been numerous testimonies, and actually, that is what intrigued me about Oura ring. How can such a small device be so good at this? How does Oura track sleep and that too so accurately?
In my quest to find the right answer, I came across many discoveries. I used the ring myself, explored the app extensively and now I am ready to tell you all about it.
Decoding Oura’s Sleep Tracking
Oura knows you are sleeping by constantly tracking your body movement/activity along with your body temperature. It does so by using its PPG sensor and NTC temperature sensor.
Activity is a clear indicator of movement, and when you are not moving, your body is usually resting. Moreover, your body temperature drops a bit when you fall asleep. This helps the Oura ring to detect the exact time you are falling asleep, as the ring is well known for.
With Oura’s super-sensitive accelerometer, even my slightest movements are detected at night and even reflected in my sleep data.
Heart Rate
Oura, with the help of its Infrared Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors, proactively tracks your Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Lowest Heart Rate (LHR), and Resting Heart Rate (RHR). By carefully noting the rise and fall in your HRV and RHR in real-time, it draws conclusions about your last night’s sleep and sleep patterns in general.
Oura also offers the Trends feature, which basically shows you all of your data over a period of time in graphs, which I think is very cool. As it shows you your body patterns and helps you determine what and how your routine might have affected your sleep.
Body Temperature
As mentioned above, Oura Ring tracks any fluctuations in your body temperature with its Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) sensors. Generally, while we are awake, our body temperatures are high, whereas, in a state of sleep, they drop slightly; that’s how Oura knows how well we slept.
Similarly, when we wake up from sleep, our body temperature slightly rises again, being a great indicator to the ring that the wearer has woken up when tracked with Heart Rate and movement.
Respiratory Rate
Oura keeps a check on your breathing rate also with the help of its Infrared PPG sensors. It gives a detailed analysis of the breaths you take per minute, allowing Oura to draw conclusions about your sleep.
When we are awake, our respiratory rate is generally high and variable, and in a state of deep sleep its more stable.
Body Movement
Body movement is the most basic indicator of sleep. During deep sleep, body movements are minimized, whereas when you are awake, you move even if it is slightly.
The other day, I noticed that even though I had woken up, I was so tired from the last day that I just couldn’t get myself to move and get out of bed. So, even though I was awake, I was simply lying on the bed, and for a good while, the red light (for SpO2 during sleep) kept emitting from the ring. What surprised me was that the Oura ring still knew the exact moment I had woken up.
So, I know for a reason that Oura’s sleep tracking is top-notch and pretty hard to beat for some other smart wearable. However, that’s just the beginning. Simply detecting when one’s falling asleep and waking up isn’t the endgame. The real deal is, what does Oura measure while I am sleeping and here’s where I was truly impressed.
What Does Oura Tell You About Your Sleep?
As I said, the real deal begins when Oura decodes your sleep and tells you a ton of data about your night, like how well you slept, whether your timing was right, how sooner or later you fell asleep, and if the quality of your sleep is any good. Don’t take me wrong; you already have an idea about all of these things.
But! When you have clear numbers and graphs and data over your night’s sleep, you are bound to think about it and take it seriously. When I saw my sleep stages, HR, HRV, lowest and resting HR, breathing rate, SpO2, body temperature, and a few more things, I was simply amazed to see what goes into my body at night.
Answering your next question, I know you are more likely to wonder how exactly now Oura knows which sleep stage you are in at the exact time of the night. After collecting all of the data during my sleep, the Oura app takes around one minute to analyze my sleep data.
Oura divides all of my sleep into intervals of 5 mins then processes that information to segregate your sleep into different sleep stages. HR, Respiration rate, and temperature are taken into account to identify all the sleep stages.
Oura’s Sleep Stages
Oura mainly has four sleep stages, which are depicted via a graph, also known as sleep stage graphs or hypnograms. The four sleep stages are awake, REM (Rapid Eye Movement), light, and deep.
Let’s understand, via the table below, how the above four factors (biosignals) vary in the different sleep stages.
| Sleep Stages /Metrics Tracked | Awake | Light Sleep | Deep Sleep | REM Sleep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Respiratory rate | High and more variable | Slows | Stabilises | Rises |
| Heart rate | High and more variable | Decreases | Stabilises | Increases |
| Temperature | High and stable | Drops (slightly lower than awake state) | Drops (slightly lower than light sleep) | Rises (slightly higher than Deep sleep) |
| Movement | High | Less | Lowest | Minor involuntary movements |
Note: By tracking these aspects, Oura draws conclusions about your sleep. For example, if your movement drops, your heart rate slightly decreases and becomes stable, your respiratory rate becomes stable, and your skin temperature drops slightly, Oura will assume you are in a state of deep sleep. It then uses all this data to create your unique sleep report and, based on that, gives you a sleep score.
Your Sleep Report
First, the ring will sync with the app, the app will process your sleep data and then give you your Sleep Score. This happens after you have waken up and opened the app.
On the Sleep tab, you will see your sleep score and various sleep contributors, namely – total sleep duration, movement, deep sleep time, REM sleep time, light sleep time, time awake, average blood oxygen, breathing regularity, lowest and average heart rate, average HRV, etc. Let’s understand all of them in detail –
Sleep Score – A sleep score is a score generated by the Oura app. This score is a measure of how good your last night’s sleep was. It is in the range of 0-100, where a sleep score beyond 85 is considered excellent, between 70-84 is good sleep, and so on.
Oura considers the sleep contributors to help you understand the quality of your sleep. Let me introduce them to you in detail, one by one.
- Total sleep – It is the sum total of the time you spend in bed. It includes light sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep, naps, latency, etc. It is a crucial parameter to identify because it affects your well-being.
- Efficiency – Efficiency is the percentage of time spent sleeping compared by the percentage of time spent awake while in bed. More efficiency means better overall health (both mental and physical). This includes naps as well.
- Restfulness – Restfulness is an important parameter when it comes to determining sleep quality. When we sleep, we unconsciously toss and turn, and sometimes, we even wake up in the middle to drink water or go to the bathroom. These activities also impact our sleep and alter the quality of our sleep.
- REM sleep – REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. This happens mostly when we are dreaming or having thoughts while sleeping. In this phase, the brain is as active as it is in awake state. This stage is crucial, as it helps with emotional regulation and processing.
- Deep sleep – Deep sleep is the crux of your entire sleep cycle. Even if your total sleeping time is greater but your deep sleep time is not optimal, there are chances of you falling sick or your fitness being compromised. This is the first thing to look at on the sleep tab in your Oura app. This is the most rejuvenating sleep stage and is a critical stage of your sleep cycle, essential for physical restoration, strengthening immunity, and overall health.
- Latency – Latency is the time it takes to transition from a fully awake state to a fully asleep state. The accelerometer in the ring tracks accurately when you stop moving, which indicates that you have slept.
- Timing- Following a Circadiam rhythm means falling asleep and waking up at the same time. If you do not have a set time when you sleep, your body will never know when to rest and when to work.
Sleep Trends
Oura’s sleep trends provide you with a holistic overview of your sleep patterns over time via a graphical representation known as hypnograms. With the help of trends, you can closely scrutinize the upgrade or downgrade in your sleep quality. This strongly aids in elevating your health and lifestyle over time.
Under Oura’s Sleep Trends, I can see combined data for these parameters-
- Bedtime
- Deep sleep
- Latency
- REM sleep
- Sleep Score
- Sleep efficiency
- Sleep stages
- Time in bed
- Total sleep time
- Wake-up time
Nap Tracking
Oura comes with a very interesting feature called Nap tracking. Oura’s advanced sensors are very smartly designed to detect your Nap. Oura can tell you if you are napping or sleeping. If your sleep time ranges anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours and your body is in any of these three sleep stages (light, deep, REM), it will be detected as a nap, and anything beyond that would be considered sleeping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wrap Up
If you are someone like me who understands the importance of sound sleep and is looking for a gadget that provides detailed sleep insights and significantly upgrades your lifestyle, Oura is your new friend.
If you ask me, “Why should you choose Oura Ring for tracking your sleep?” Well, there are so many reasons! Oura is, according to me, the best choice for advanced, extensive, and precise sleep tracking.
