I Wore the Oura Ring for a Year — Here’s my Honest Review 

Kim Kardashian is obsessed with it. Jennifer Anniston is obsessed with it. Celebrities everywhere are obsessed with it. And now, count me on that list. WHAT IS IT? The OURA RING.

When this shiny new gadget caught my eye, I knew I had to try it. If you’re looking to try a smart ring to track your daily activities without compromising style or convenience, this might just be it. I tried it for a year before I could give you my brutally honest review.

If you know me, you know I love lists. There’s a pros and cons list for any and everything. Take a look at mine to see if the Oura Ring is the right fit for you.

	Pros of the Oura Ring	Cons of the Oura Ring
1	1. User-friendly app	Can only track running, walking, and cycling
2	Aesthetic – doesn’t look like an electronic device	$499 price tag if you wanna twin with Jennifer Anniston (Horizon Gold)
3	Daily stress monitoring	Added $5.99/month subscription
4	Built-in meditations	$499 price tag if you want to twin with Jennifer Anniston (Horizon Gold)
5	Activity tags to grasp a better understanding of your triggers	Uncomfortable in the beginning for people who don’t like wearing rings
6	Focuses on wellness and recovery more than fitness	The Blood Oxygen Sensing feature drains the battery significantly
7	Battery lasts up to a week	No way to start/end a workout
8	Period tracking
9	Keeps me accountable

Let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?

Why I’m Hooked on the Oura Ring?

Design and Durability

The Oura ring is so sleek and lightweight. It blends seamlessly into my jewelry stack and doesn’t look like an “electronic device.” Unlike my Apple watch, which is constantly grabbing my attention, apart from the initial days of wearing it, I even forget that I have it on most of the time.

I wear it on my index finger of the right hand most of the time, but I do switch it between my middle finger or my ring finger in case I get bloated. As long as it’s a snug fit, it doesn’t really matter which finger you have it on.

With a smartwatch, I can switch up the straps to match my outfits, but it still gives off a “gadget” look. What I like about the Oura is that even though watches have endless options for straps, with a variety of colors available in the Oura ring, it never comes across as if I’m wearing a gadget. It blends seamlessly with my jewelry stack.

As with any piece of jewelry, scratches due to regular wear and tear are inevitable. Especially if you’re weightlifting with it. Now, I’m a reasonable person, so it doesn’t bother me, but other than the look, I see no difference in the working of it. It’s as good as the first day I got it.

How The Data Has Helped Me

As soon as I wake up, the first thing I do is have a large glass of lemon water. Oh, who are we kidding? I look at my phone. But it’s not all what you think. In the past year, the first app I opened has quickly shifted from Instagram to the Oura app. To check my sleep score, of course.

The one thing that has changed massively since wearing my Oura ring is my late-night snacking habit. Since this was a common recurrence in my routine, I noticed when I indulged in a late-night snack or even had my dinner closer to bedtime, my heart rate stayed relatively higher than what it was supposed to be, at least for the first half of my sleep. And the HRV is normally the inverse.

I also rely on my Oura Ring for tracking steps. Since it is the one tracker I wear almost all day, it is the closest to recording all my steps accurately. This has pushed me to up my steps throughout the day.

After tracking steps with my Oura, I realized the importance of movement and not just getting a 1-2 hr workout at the gym and calling it a day. Especially with a desk job, it is easy to be sedentary for most of the day, and Oura has encouraged me to take breaks and move around to complete my step goal.

Since getting my Oura ring, my late night snacking, completely off-track sleep cycle, and burning the candle at both ends behavior has improved like no other. This is a way more zen version of me. Thank you, Oura.

I’m not saying buying an Oura ring or any health and fitness tracker or popping a few supplements (looking at you – collagen) is automatically going to make you a new person, but it is one step in the right direction.

Personal Health Alarm

Another really cool feature I like is when it tells me my numbers are off, but I know it wasn’t because of a negative behavior. Indicating that I might be on the verge of getting sick. It’s not always accurate but it can help in minimizing the length of sickness by taking a prior course of action like loading up on your Vit C intake or taking preventative medication.

I’ve also seen people on Twitter say that it predicted when they were getting Covid before testing positive, which I think is really cool. Hopefully, I won’t have to test that out for myself.

Tags and Stress Monitoring

Tags allow me to add certain behaviors or factors that contribute to my routine on a certain day, e.g., coffee intake, if I have a flight, the air quality of the place I’m in, and many, many more. These tags help me gain a better understanding of which inputs trigger which behavior.

Combine this with Oura’s Daytime Stress feature; a practice I’ve been following is adding tags to my Oura app throughout the day. I recommend you to do this as well because it has really helped me understand what behaviours and factors lead to a spike in my stress levels.

One Less Screen to Look At

As compared to a smartwatch on my wrist, I like the fact that the Oura ring is so sleek and doesn’t add to my screen time. Between laptops, notebooks, phones, and smartwatches, our generation has reached the threshold of screen dependency.

Better Insight into Menstrual Health

The Oura app is almost always correct with its prediction of the time of my period and the phase I’m in-: follicular, ovulation, luteal, or menstruation. It’s also really reassuring to look at the data and realize what phase I’m in to justify certain behaviors.

Their integration with Natural Cycles is more of a “digital birth control” or for pregnancy planning. Since I’m not the audience for that currently, I use ‘cycle insights’ from the Oura app directly.

Comfortable during Sleep

I’ve never worn my Apple Watch during sleep. Just the thought of a chunky watch on my wrist doesn’t scream “comfort” to me. On the contrary, the Oura ring is something I don’t even notice. It also doesn’t vibrate or send notifications every time my phone rings, ensuringsleep without any disturbances. 

Where the Oura Ring Missed the Mark?

It Didn’t Replace my Apple Watch

Since the Oura ring only records running, sleeping, cycling, and walking, to track workouts, I have to go into the app and add my workout. Knowing myself, If I’m at the gym and I look at my phone for whatever reason, I will get distracted.

The only time I use my Apple watch now is when I hit the gym for weight lifting. For yoga, pilates, and any other form of exercise, it’s Oura all the way.

Subscription Cost

After spending $299+ on the Oura Ring, even the $5.99/month seems to put me off. The sheer fact that the Oura Gen2 was able to display all features and the Gen3 has the same features hidden behind a paywall, is so frustrating.

Battery Drainage Due to SpO2

Since Oura dropped the Blood Oxygen Sensing feature, the battery drains significantly. It is because this feature uses infrared red LED lights throughout the night to measure the metrics. I keep it off to save a lot of my battery life. Still, it lasts me a good 5 days on a single charge.

The Charger Needs to Be Carried Everywhere

The Oura ring chargers are size-specific. Unlike a phone or a smartwatch, if I run out of battery on my Oura ring, I can’t use my friend’s Oura ring charger to charge mine unless it’s the same size ring, which will rarely be the case.

Final Verdict

I use Oura with a more wellness and mental health approach and my Apple watch for calorie tracking and fitness. This is what Oura has pulled its main focus towards, and I can clearly see why. I love the fact that the two compliment each other to provide a holistic view of my wellness and fitness.

For me, the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to the Oura Ring. Needless to say, despite dropping so many dollars at my nutritionist, Oura was the one that helped me drop my late night snacking habits. For that reason alone, I would recommend Oura to anyone I come across.

If you’re looking to switch to a smartring but don’t have the budget to splurge on an Oura Ring, there’s a cheaper alternative which I tested out in comparison to my Apple Watch as well.