When junior Rian Du got his first Oura Ring from his dad, he didn’t know what to expect from it. It seemed like just a small piece of jewelry to him, incapable of doing anything special. But after the Oura Ring started giving him advice on his heart rate, sleep, and even told him when he was going to get sick, he started focusing on his health.
“It told me when I was about to get sick or how my overall fitness and health was looking,” said Du. “I started focusing my life a lot more around my health because of the Oura Ring.”
Oura rings, a secret, futuristic health tracker, has taken over the market in recent years. The piece of technology gained popularity with athletes, celebrities and even politicians, like US Senator Cory Booker who donned an Oura Ring while delivering a 25-hour speech. Celebrities like Prince Harry, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston have also hopped on the trend, all claiming that it has ‘saved their lives’ and ‘made them gain back their health.’
This year, Oura rings gained popularity at the School.
Senior Jake Hunt became interested in Oura rings due to their fashionable appearance. He noted that they are especially skilled at tracking sleep, stress, exercise and health maintenance.
“I take sleep and health very seriously,” said Hunt. “And the Oura Ring gives me all the insight I could ask for.”
The newest generation of Oura rings use our body’s physiology and human finger to track health. Through using internal sensors, a 3D accelerometer and multi-wavelength infrared sensors, the Oura rings connect to an algorithm that analyzes patterns and improves well-being.
“It allows me to be proactive,” Hunt said. “Especially in this high-stress environment.”
The first generation of Oura Rings was introduced in 2015. The rings primarily focused on sleep and activity tracking by using multiple biosensors. By 2018, Oura sold 20,000 copies of the ring. .Three years after their initial launch, Oura released Gen2. The new generation featured improved heart rate tracking through upgraded hardware and sensors.
The feature separating Oura from other health gadgets is its ground-breaking illness predicting technology. Rings pull data from multiple health tracking sensors to predict if you are becoming sick, allowing users to prevent the illness from developing.
In 2019, Oura partnered with the Department of Defense to track the health of military personnel. The community reacted with outrage, questioning the ethics behind military access to civilian health data.
To quell these concerns, on September 2, CEO Tom Hale stated there was a lot of misinformation about the Oura Rings. He said their company did not share or sell users’ data to any other third party.
Although there is backlash from the community, with users suspecting corruption, no wrong doing has been reported yet.
“It’s really been a helpful and user-friendly tool,” Hunt said.
Despite the allegations against the Oura Ring, students still use it because of its helpful nature.
“So many times it’s been helpful to me.” Du said. “It tells me my heart rate, my stress level, but most importantly, it gives me advice on what to do to improve my health and overall life.”
