Anyone using the Oura ring to track their cardiovascular age?
Joseph I need an accurate device to tell me my O2 saturation during the night - sounds like the Oura does that? Does it give an average or by hour or can you set it to record if dips to a certain level? I’m not at all familiar with these devices. There is a Wellue brand that does only sleep and will vibrate when gets to certain set level but the reviews are mixed. Thanks.
CTStan that’s encouraging you were able to resolve your sleep apnea can I ask were breathing exercises part of that? I recently found a Dr. Dylan Petkus and he cured his with breathing and myofacial exercises. I’m thinking of taking his course. Could not tolerate CPAP or mouth guard and he says they don’t fix the root problem anyway, which is breathing.
I use an Oura ring, gen 2 that I bought used on eBay. Works fine, though battery needs charging every second or third day. Only use if to track sleep. Also have a fitbit that I use to track sleep and compare with the Oura. They track fairly closely; the Oura often tells me I had more deep sleep than the fitbit but occasionally it is the reverse. I don’t use either to track anything other than sleep though the fitbit is a convenient timekeeper, pulse and SpO2 monitor. Undecided whether I will replace the Oura when it fails altogether. I think it has caused me to behave better about getting to bed at the prescribed time every night.
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I have positional sleep apnea, so there was no need for breathing exercises. Your situation may be different.
To find out if yours is positional, simply lie on your back, relax your jaw and throat completely…if you can no longer breathe, then lie on your side or back and do the same thing and you might find that you are then able to breathe fine. If its positional, the challenge becomes staying in a correct sleeping position. That can be accomplished if you work at it.
The Oura ring will give a report of the frequency of oxygen desaturation events over night.
If you haven’t mastered the technique of relaxing a specific muscle group, you can learn how by practicing some PMR (progressive muscle relaxation) exercises.
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Thanks CTStan It’s great you had a pretty easy fix - I can breathe on my back but think it does bring on more apneas. I need to do some home studies on my side with mouth taped to see if there’s any difference I was at that point about four years ago when a bunch of stuff happened in life, so just getting back to it.
I hope you find something that works for you, but I wouldn’t want to leave the impression that my remedy was an easy fix.
I tried other things first that would have been easier if they had worked…, mouth tape, head bands, various dental appliances, funny pillows, back sleeping positions with my head at an angle, even tried lying on my stomach.
Changing from my most preferred sleeping position on my back to staying on my side is difficult and remains an ongoing challenge every night.
Oh I’m sorry it’s been more difficult! Too bad side sleeping is not your preferred. You still might want to check out Dylan Petkus the breathing exercises might help you. I was shocked I even had sleep apnea as never woke up the doc tested me due to fatigue. I’m trying to decide which is the best device to keep track of o2 sat and leaning towards the Oura ring. Do you do that or are you able to go by symptoms?
@CTStan
I haven’t scrolled up very far, so forgive me if this has been covered.
Have you tried sleeping on your back, but raising the back two legs of your bed so you are at a slant? I’m just throwing things against the wall because I’ve heard that can make the difference for back sleepers.
Also, I’m sure you’ve tried it all, but to make side sleeping more comfy, if you haven’t, try a pillow between your knees.
I’m fine unless I roll onto my back.
Good suggestion. I was actually planning on trying a pillow between my legs to see if that might keep me from rolling.
Ah, I misread what you wrote and now understand it’s about staying on your side, and not that it’s not comfortable.
Yes, the pillow absolutely helps! When I had to teach myself not to roll over on my stomach, I created ‘rails’ with a row of pillows surrounding me to make it harder.
No symptoms that I can attribute to recurrent apnea…
When I lost my first Oura ring, I looked for a better device. I read the reviews on every other device and Oura still seemed the best so this is my second one.
My nightly sleep score tells me how many, if any, O2 desaturation events occurred. The ring doesnt report what the O2 reading was though. It seems like it should be able to.
I suggested to their development team what an extremely valuable metric that would be.
Maybe in the future.
Oh that’s too bad I really want the numbers. Even though reviews are mixed maybe I’ll try the Wellue you can set it to vibrate when it goes below a certain level, but sure would be great if it had more consistent reviews for accuracy. No subscription though so might be worth the 150 bucks just to see as I don’t need any other tracking. Thanks for letting me know.
Contoured knee pillows are fantastic.