Is the Oura Ring worth it? My experience as a Corporate Executive

You might have just stumbled upon this article from a search browser with a "Is the Oura Ring worth it?" or "Will the Oura Ring accurately track my cycle?" query and you don't know who I am... and you don't care to, you just want to know if buying an Oura Ring should be in the cards for you or not.

So, and just for benchmark purposes, let me reintroduce myself: I am Jess, I am 38 years old, married & childfree, in fertile age and with a very high-demanding and stressful corporate job. I do 2 to 4 low to mid-intensity workouts per week and have lost a lot of weight last year, so tracking my wellness is very important for me, ever since buying my first wearable almost 10 years ago.

If we have any similarities in regards to demographics and lifestyle, this article might be for you.

So... is the Oura Ring worth it?

I first mentioned about purchasing it when in Paris at the beginning of the year and I am here to tell the tale. This is my experience using the Oura Ring and, over a semester later, I would just have a wish: that my new wearable understood I have a demanding job.

Let's dive in...

Are wearables really that necessary?

In short, no. You can live without.

But if tracking your wellness and activity is important for you, these devices will help.

Among friends, I was one of the early adopters of wearables starting with the Fitbit Charge HR 2 I first bought in 2016. Fitbit has seen several sides of me through almost a decade: me as a couch potato, me running a marathon, me gaining weight, me losing weight, me living in Angola or me living in Portugal… It has seen it all. I used that first Fitbit for 5 years.

Then I switched to the Apple Watch and I absolutely hated everything about it. I still have it in a box, many years later. Fitbit got me used to a very long standing battery and I only had to charge it once a week. Apple Watch is a whiny see-you-next-tuesday as it DEMANDS to be charged every other day. It would spend so much time in a socket, I started forgetting to use it. And it had apps and notifications impossible to disconnect and I just absolutely loathe any type of notification.

That is why I ditched it and I went back to Fitbit. I have been wearing a Versa 4 daily since 2023. I also have a Fitbit Aria Air scales that syncs with my fitbit profile everytime I weigh myself.The scales has since been discontinued.

So... I was quite happy back with my new Fitbit, what made me jump to a ring?

Influenced by…

I first saw an Oura Ring on the famous Brazilian (former blogger now) Instagrammer Dri Miller’s husband Aaron’s finger many years ago. Ouf, that sentence was a mouthful. You might need a few seconds to read it again.

I was intrigued at that chunky matte black ring he was wearing aside from his wedding ring and she explained in a video what it was.

Then I saw Fe Neute (another great Brazilian former blogger and wife of the Mark Manson) rave about it and how it improved her health in a particular topic I have been obsessing about: my sleep.

And then, as there is jamais deux sans trois, Lydia Millen (the famous English fashion and lifestyle youtuber) started raving about it and how it impacted her knowledge around her cycle.

Call me triple-intrigued! I had to take the leap and my husband had to jump into the wagon with me!

BTW, Oura Health is a Finnish brand. Guys, I think the Suomi people just get me. They created my favourite skincare brand and my favourite supplement brand. Even my husband’s favourite knives brand are Finnish and so is our second favourite supermarket in the world.

And now I am diving into their wearables? You don't say...

The purchasing experience

If it is your first purchase, Oura gives you the option to receive a free sizing kit with several mock rings so you can test your size before closing the deal.

My husband chose the Heritage with a plateau feature in black and I chose the Horizon, with a sleek ininterrupted design in gold.

I bought the Gen3 Horizon in a size 8 for 499€ and you also have to pay an annual membership of 69.99€. I got a 110€ discount with my whole purchase. It’s the most expensive wearable I have ever purchased and having to cumulatively pay a membership fee hurts the pocket furthermore.

The day by day

I have been wearing my Oura Ring every day, without a single fail, since December 2024. I wanted to write this article sooner but I also wanted to experience several of its features before reviewing it as honestly and unbiasedly as possible.

Contrary to a smartwatch, you cannot monitor any of your vitals through the wearable's screen so you need to synchronise your ring to your phone's app constantly to obtain any information.

The Oura tracks your heart rate, temperature, sleep and combines that data to share advice, monitor wellness & readiness factors and monitor your cycle - if you are a woman. All these insights allow to measure our chronotype, cardiovascular age, cycles, etc.

Oura Ring for Sleep Tracking: Is It Accurate?

.. is pretty competent. As I use my fitbit to sleep - it's my alarm clock, as I would rather have something vibrate on my wrist than something ringing in my ears! - both give overall the same sleep insights per day. Must been something is correct about that tracking.

I wake up frequently in the middle of the night - I have the tiniest bladder in the world! - and the tracker helps me realise in which nights it happens more often in combination with activity, heart rate and quality of sleep.

If you already use Oura, I’d love to know if your sleep tracking matches my experience, drop a comment below

How good is the Oura Ring with my menstrual cycle?

I think it's one of Oura's best features, as it can track your cycle - you can shut down that feature if you want to or if you are pregnant - and it combines your bodily temperature to do so. This is how I first realised why I am so cold or so warm in certain moments of the month and when night sweats before more frequent. It's amazing what technology can also teach you about yourself!

BTW the Cycle Insights is pretty accurate and when it mentions I should be having my period... it is generally right!

How does the Oura Ring deals with illness and feeling under the weather?

I fell sick in the beginning of March, with fever and vomiting symptoms. After I started a course of antibiotics, things got worse before they got any better and I only started feeling like myself again by mid-April.

This was also the moment to put the Oura ring to test with its Symptom Radar feature. My readiness score was on the rise (as I was sleeping most of the day due to illness and medication) yet it still noticed something was wrong. It did not fail: it started to pinpoint I was heaving minor symptoms or something coming up, suggesting some much needed rest and to pay attention.

And then, as things got worse, Oura Ring alerted me to major signs of physical strain. It was absolutely unbelievable for me to see the tracker working as my fitbit had never alerted me to such things before. Also this is an information you cannot naturally feed the wearable, as in, it's not because I tagged that I was under the weather that it detected those symptoms. I have heavily menstrual pain once a month and I tag that symptom, but it does not alert me in any way to any major sign of strain. It also means I am quite resilient during those days. (Un)Fortunately.

Overall, I think it's the rings best feature. And I am glad I have never had heavy symptoms ever again, as those were not fun days for me.

Can the Oura ring substitute a food diary app or journal?

I was about to hit "Publish" on this article when I received a newsletter from Oura announcing a new Meals feature. With the smartphone camera, once you take a photo of your meal, Oura's artificial intelligence analyses what you are consuming. It is mostly right and I am very surprised by this feature. After a few days of logging your meals, it adapts to your chronotype and gives some advice on best meal times and onto the content of what we eat. It does not turn into a full-on food diary - like my beloved Lifesum, which has helped me lose weight - but it feeds the algorithm to understand how you react to digestion and eating schedules in your overall day cycle.

What I don't love about the Oura technology...

As my sleep can be pretty shaky in some specific moments of the month, I sometimes head to work with only on 4-hour sleep and very tired. And the Oura Ring knows it BUT always recommends me to take it easy or nap. And this is where it's tricky. I want to scream at my Oura Ring and tell it I have to work. I do tag the Work activity daily but still, it will recommend me to take a nap. Dear Oura Ring, I promise I will nap during the day when I retire, now it's not possible. I would rather it help me improve my heart rate and dealing with stressful situations that I do have on a daily basis at work - like, if it notices a rise, recommend a breathing exercise in 5 minutes? that I could do! - instead of just heading home and take a snooze. Fail!

Overall.. is the Oura Ring experience worth it?

Pros:

• accurate with female cycle insights
• great with the temperature tracking
• very good with sleep monitoring
• will surprise you in a bout of illness

Cons:

• the hefty price tag per wearable
• the subscription fee
• having to know your size before purchasing which can take time, even with the mock sizer they send you
• Oura Ring not taking into account, after months of detailed metrics, that one has a demanding job to tend to

Conclusion...

Well, if you already have a smartwatch, I don't think the Oura ring will bring that much novelty into your life. Okay, it's great with sleep, cycles, illness and temperature, but at its price range, maybe it can be more valuable to your wellness routine if you don't have a smartwatch already. Also it's not compatible with the Vitality app requirements as it only works with smartwatches at the moment.

So, it's a meh for me. A very expensive one at that.

So, let me know. What have you decided? Will you buy it or not? Or if you already are a Oura ring wearer, do you identify with my experience of have a different one? Please subscribe (for free) and share in the comments, I'd love to hear from you.

Like this content? We can connect also on BlueSky | TikTok | Youtube | Pinterest