Sleep deprivation has many adverse effects on the body, such as being moody and not fully productive. Sleeping disorders are also linked to significant consequences on our physical health. Not getting enough sleep regularly can lead to severe medical conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and diabetes.
It also reduces your life expectancy. When lack of sleep becomes a regular pattern, it starts affecting your mental health. The brain fogs, and focusing on work and making decisions on different matters becomes quite challenging. You might feel completely worn out and fall asleep during the day when you should be working.
This leads to the economy being affected across the United States and the world at large. The productivity of citizens, the economy’s primary driver. Sleeping disorders are a significant problem for most citizens and can lead to economic consequences. Therefore, having a sleep tracker becomes quite essential regarding monitoring your sleep.
Technology has made it a bit easier to get enough rest through different gadgets such as a sleep tracker ring. All of the devices work differently, and they each have personalized tips to help you sleep better.
How Can Sleep be Tracked?
It’s good to know what you expect from a sleep tracker before you start using one. Sleep trackers have more sophisticated and advanced technology, which makes them more accurate.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Older versions of sleep trackers focused only on accelerometers and on the wrist movement analysis to monitor sleep. New versions also analyze the heart rate and, most importantly, the Heart rate variability. The HRV is a measure of the autonomic nervous system’s effect on the heart. In a nutshell, it refers to the minuscule differences between consecutive heartbeats. HRV has long been known to be a biological marker of the different sleep stages. Nowadays, companies offer smart rings that monitor heartbeats, movements, and HRV to analyze the sleep pattern precisely.
Sleep cycles
A lot of sleep trackers do monitor the different stages of sleep. What they do is, keep track of the time you spend awake such as tossing and turning. To get enough sleep and rest enough, you need to go through different stages of sleep every night. The sleep tracker ring will help you monitor if you have gone through all of the cycles. If the analysis shows that you are missing out on the cycles, you may suffer from sleep disorders.
Oximetry
Sleeping rings monitor your oxygen saturation. It is essential because it ensures the blood oxygen level is above 95%. When the levels are below 90%, you’ll be notified since that’s hypoxia, and it can lead to the development of dangerous conditions such as heart failure and headaches. Unlike medical oximeters, a sleep tracking ring isn’t clipped at the tip of your finger. Instead, you wear it on your finger, and it measures your oxygen saturation. The data is then shown through an app that synchronizes with the sleep ring once you remove it.
Can a Sleeping Ring help?
A sleep tracking ring is handy when it comes to keeping track of your sleep patterns. Getting enough sleep is essential, and sometimes getting the recommended seven to nine hours can be challenging. Several sleep rings have hit the market, but you should know the general pros and cons before investing in one.
Pros of sleeping rings
- They measure your heart rate and movement then collect all the data, so you know if you have a sleeping disorder.
- Useful in monitoring people with sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea by helping with airway blockage. This is accomplished by tracking oxygen levels and abnormal heart rates.
- It notifies you through mild vibrations that don’t disturb your sleep to wake you up if your oxygen levels are low so they can rise back to normal if you have sleep apnea.
- They can be integrated with an app so you can adjust vibration levels to one that you’re comfortable with, from mild to intense. The app also entails your metrics; hence you can share the data with your general practitioner.
- It can be comfortably worn at night without falling off from your finger.
Cons of sleeping rings
- They can be relatively expensive, and you have to dig in a bit deep in your pocket to buy one.
- Some designs aren’t comfortable enough to wear 24/7, as some are too big, while others are small and may be easily lost.
- They might not provide accurate information in every situation, and some features may end up not working at all.
Best Sleeping Rings for 2021
Best Overall
Oura Ring
Best for price
Sleepon Go2Sleep
Best for sleep apneas
Wellue O2ring
Oura Ring
Best Overall
The Oura Ring markets itself as one of the most accurate sleep tracking rings in the market. It’s designed to monitor your sleep at night using the gyroscope and accelerometer that are in-built. The ring sensors also track different metrics, including your body temperature, pulse rate, and breathing patterns. The Oura Ring also shows the sleeping cycles: light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. It also tracks details on latency, periods of troubled sleeping, and the number of hours you’ve slept. Its only drawback, its price.
Smart ring by Oura
Price when reviewed: $299
The one thing that stands out about the Oura Ring is its ability to track heart rate variability (HRV). This feature measures how regular or irregular the time between your pulses may be. Your HRV will be high if there’s an irregularity in the time between your pulses. When there’s significant variability between your pulses, then it shows you’re okay. Conversely, if your HRV is low, then you might be under stress both emotionally and physically.
The design is impressive since it merely looks like a wedding band, so it won’t look weird when you’re wearing it. The ring is worn on your middle finger, index finger, or ring finger, and the material used is titanium. The data is collected from your body through the infrared light beams it shines through your skin. The sensors then capture the changes in the lights to create insights. The app then uses the ring’s data to develop scores: sleep, activity, and readiness.
Pros of the Oura Ring
- It has a long battery life, unlike smartwatches, since it’s only focused on your sleeping patterns. The battery can last between 5-7 days.
- The Oura Ring keeps track of the significant signals on your body to gather essential insights to help you develop better sleeping habits.
- You can wear it 24/7 while doing other activities since it’s waterproof, you won’t worry about it getting damaged.
- It gives you insights based on what your body needs to stay healthy. The insights are custom-made for your particular needs and not just basic data that is not actionable.
- The ring gives you a reliable baseline on your heart rate variability; this helps you know if your body is relaxed, overworked, or under stress.
- It has a light and compact design, so it looks good when you wear it; bulkiness isn’t a concern.
Cons of the Oura Ring
- It doesn’t collect enough data when you’re working out because the infrared light it uses isn’t very accurate during movement. This is despite the fact that it’s marketed as a fitness tracker.
- It’s much more expensive compared to other sleep trackers.
- The material used isn’t flexible, and it might be too tight or loose during different hours of the day.
The Oura Ring is one of the best sleep trackers you can invest in to give you data about your body. It will help you get into making better choices regarding your lifestyle. However, if you’re looking for a great fitness tracker, it isn’t the best choice.
Go2Sleep by Sleepon
Best for price
The Go2Sleep is a sleep tracker ring that has a lot to offer for a reasonable price. Not only are the batteries one of the best on the market, but this ring is not shy of innovative features such as oximetry and real-time heart rate analysis. Considering that it is very light and comfortable to wear, the Go2Sleep is definitely a sleep tracker ring to consider.
Go2Sleep by Sleepon
Price when reviewed: $99.00
One of the main features Sleepon focused on while creating the design for the Go2Sleep ring is certainly its lightness. The Go2Sleep is small, and that’s one of the things people love about it. When you open the box, you’ll get three silicone rings, which are all different sizes. It has a minimalist design, and setting it up will be so easy. The battery lasts considerably long; it can last for three days and takes two hours to charge fully.
The ring comes with an app that’s available for both iOS and Android. You use Bluetooth to integrate the data from the ring to the app. For example, your sleep stages will be measured using your heart rate variability, heart rate, and movement.
The Go2Sleep ring also tracks your SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation level) and HR (heart rate) in real-time. Your blood oxygen saturation will be tracked all through the night and every second as you sleep. Compared to other sleep trackers, this ring will provide you with the most accurate information. The good thing is, this is done in real-time. So you can keep track of your heart rate and oxygen saturation anytime.
Pros of the Go2Sleep
- The ring is comfortable when you wear it, it’s very light, and the silicone material makes it easy to fit it on your finger.
- It’s slightly waterproof, so you don’t need to take it off anytime you need to do activities involving water like washing your hands.
- You get tips on improving your sleep after getting your daily score on how you slept.
- It has real-time monitoring of HR and SpO2.
- It alerts you when your blood oxygen levels drop too low through vibrations; this works well if you have sleep apnea.
- It’s very affordable compared to other sleep tracking rings.
Cons of the Go2Sleep
- The app only works when you have Bluetooth on.
- The program used in calculating results doesn’t work as expected, and improvements would help.
- Some cycles end up messing with the sleep stages calculator; this might interfere with the smart alarm.
The bottom line is despite not being the very best sleep tracking device available in the market. The Go2Sleep ring undoubtedly has a lot to offer for its price range.
Wellue O2ring
Best for sleep apneas
When it comes to reliability in SpO2 monitoring, the Wellue O2ring is the most reliable since it’s made by a company specializing in medical devices’ development. Your oxygen saturation levels, pulse rates, and movement are recorded throughout the night with the ring. Despite being expensive, it’s worth every penny. Its features work very well. This ring works perfectly in monitoring people with sleep apnea.
O2ring by Wellue
Price when reviewed: $169.00
In a nutshell, the Wellue O2 ring is a wearable oximeter designed to keep track of your oxygen levels without disturbing your sleep. It has a screen on it and is slightly larger than other similar devices.
The O2 ring is FDA registered; therefore, you can trust the ring’s validity. In addition, it’s classified as a Class II medical device. It monitors your movement, SpO2, and HR every second while you’re asleep. Check our full analysis of the Wellue O2ring to know more about the many benefits it has to offer.
Pros of the Wellue O2ring
- Keeps track of your oxygen levels to help prevent sleep apnea.
- Uses mild, non-intrusive vibrations to notify you when your oxygen levels are low.
- You can adjust the vibration’s strength through the app depending on how deep your sleep is.
- The built-in memory can record up to four sessions of ten hours.
- You get several metrics from the app, including average HR, SpO2, and the lowest level of SpO2 measured as you’re asleep.
- The material used is silicone; hence the ring fits your finger comfortably without coming off.
Cons of the Wellue O2ring
- It’s a bit expensive despite having great features.
- The battery doesn’t last long enough; it only lasts about 12-16 hours.
- It doesn’t provide information on sleep cycle tracking.
All in all, this ring is an excellent investment in monitoring oxygen levels for sleep apnea. So if you suffer from sleep apnea or want to monitor your heart rate and oxygen levels, you should consider it.
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To wrap up
Sleep is crucial for each one of us to stay productive and lead healthy lives. While it can be hectic keeping track of our sleeping habits, these sleep tracking gadgets help us do it. They provide many features that will help us improve our lifestyles by pointing out areas to improve.
Sleeping disorders can lead to death and other dangerous long-term illnesses. Therefore, getting a sleep tracking ring is a wise move and may change how you sleep and boost your daily energy level.