Sleep tracking is all the rage these days. Beyond providing data about how and when you’re sleeping, many of the wearable trackers on the market gamify your sleep by giving you a “sleep score” each night (typically, the closer to 100 your sleep score is, the better your sleep is). While there are alot of wearable trackers out there on the market, one of the most popular has to be the Oura Ring.
The Oura Ring, which is a ring that also doubles as a health tracker, gained popularity online as a subtle luxury wearable health and fitness tracker. You can check out Sleepopolis’s review of the Oura Ring here.
The insights that your wearable sleep tracker gives you can be fun to chat with friends or coworkers about, they can also have some pretty significant impacts on your health. Recently, TikToker Cierra Miller (@cierramiller) shared her experience with her Oura ring helping her get diagnosed with sleep apnea after noticing that her sleep score was consistently low. (1)
Sleep apnea has been a hot topic in the wearable tracker industry for a while now, with giants like Samsung and Apple each investing into sleep apnea detection for their wearable devices. Oura technically does not recommend the Oura Ring as the sole determinant of whether or not you have sleep apnea, but it can provide data about when you might be experiencing “excessive wake time” which you could take to your medical provider. (2)
Why Did Cierra Get An Oura Ring?
Cierra notes in her video that she’s always had a tougher time sleeping, saying that it’s tough for her to wake up in the mornings, and that she usually feels “exhausted throughout the day.” She also goes on to note that “[she] kinda just thought that was her life.” Originally, Cierra believed that these symptoms were caused by a late bedtime. Cierra also told her audience that she experiences “very vivid nightmares, almost every single night.” Again, this seemed normal to Cierra, and she notes that melatonin would make her nightmares worse. (1)
She wound up getting the Oura Ring after there was a sale for it during Prime Day, and was curious to see how she slept at night. After wearing the ring for a few weeks Cierra noticed that she was awake a lot throughout the night, and that her sleep score was “honestly terrible”, saying that her low sleep score surprised her. (1)
How Did Cierra’s Oura Ring Help Her Get Diagnosed With Sleep Apnea?
After noticing that her sleep score was not what she expected it to be, and it was continuously low, Cierra started to suspect that something was wrong. Ultimately she told her doctor that her Oura Ring score is super low, and that she also wanted to fix her nightmares. According to Cierra, her doctor had her do an at home sleep study and told her that she most likely has sleep apnea.
After completing the sleep study, Cierra’s doctor told her that she does have mild sleep apnea and that she was not breathing “around 7-10 times an hour.” Cierra went on to say that she never thought she had sleep apnea, since she didn’t snore. (1)
She also notes that sleep apnea is “super undiagnosed in women, especially young.” Cierra’s right: a 2021 study found that not only are women underdiagnosed with sleep apnea, they are also less likely to be referred for diagnostic testing if they are demonstrating potential symptoms of sleep apnea. (3)
Since Cierra’s case of sleep apnea is pretty mild, her doctor had her move forward with using a mouth guard to help combat her sleep apnea symptoms. (1)
If you think that you are experiencing sleep apnea symptoms or if your sleep tracker suggests that you are experiencing sleep apnea or sleep apnea symptoms, you should consult with your doctor. Your doctor can help you get a sleep study to officially determine whether or not you have sleep apnea.
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Sources
- Miller, Cierra. September 25, 2024. https://www.tiktok.com/@cierramillerr/video/7418355111577046302
- Oura & Medical Conditions. Oura. https://support.ouraring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038214494-Oura-Medical-Conditions#h_01G6VB0AF4H1Y5NDBHQ7NMT2FA
- Geer, Jacqueline H., Hilbert, Janet. Gender issues in obstructive sleep apnea. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8461585/#:~:text=Obstructive%20sleep%20apnea%20has%20historically,%2C%20and/or%20sociocultural%20factors.
