My Experience: Oura Ring and Natural Cycles App. Is it worth it?

I have had my Oura Ring since spring of 2021! I have used it the past 3 years to track my sleep, recovery and activity. I also use it because of its integration with the Natural Cycles app, an FDA Cleared form of contraception, which has been my main form of birth control since having my daughter in December of 2022. The ability to integrate with the NC app is my favorite feature!

Little backstory, 4 years ago I decided to get off of hormonal birth control and during this time is when I first started to use the Natural Cycles app to track my fertility & prevent pregnancy. However, back then was when you had to manually take your temperature every single morning at the same time before even stepping foot out of bed. Then you’d have to input that data into the app for them to predict your fertility. It was tedious to say the least and to be honest I wasn’t very good at remembering to do this every morning… So I guess you could say I was extremely happy when I heard about the Oura Ring x Natural Cycles partnership!

How does the Oura Ring work with Natural Cycles?

The Oura Ring measures your temperature trends overnight and then syncs with the Natural Cycles app in the morning. The Natural Cycles algorithm will then analyze the hormone-driven changes in your body temperature to let you know your daily fertility status & to predict when you will menstruate. The app will indicate whether or not you are fertile each day by giving you either a red or a green day.

Red days = You are fertile and should abstain or use protection.

Green days = You are not fertile and good to go!

That being said, the app errs on the side of caution when it comes to Red Days so it did take a couple months of me adding in my temperature to start to see more Green Days as the app got to know my cycle. I would recommend using LH test strips near your typical time of ovulation (usually between days 12-20 of your cycle) to input even more data into the Natural Cycles app so that it can become even better at predicting your cycle. This is not necessary but is something I did at the beginning just to give the app even more data about my cycle.

Breastfeeding & Irregular Cycles

While the app has been FDA Cleared to work both with regular and irregular cycles, those with irregular cycles may experience more Red Days. You can find more information at this link here. Then, for those who are breastfeeding, I would read this article on Natural Cycles’ website and decide what works best for you.

Sleep Tracking

Oura ring’s ability to track my sleep is my second favorite feature. It tells you SO much about your sleep: your resting heart rate (RHR), your heart rate variability (HRV), time spent in each stage of sleep (active, light, deep, REM), sleep latency, efficiency, restfulness, breathing regularity & oxygen saturation.

For example, now that I have been consistently wearing mine for so long now – it tells me what time my ideal bedtime is & when I should start winding down in order to get the best night of sleep. It also knows when you have maybe eaten a meal too late, drank alcohol or are starting to get sick & it will adjust your bedtimes around to help optimize your sleep based on the data it gets.

What is a Readiness Score?

The next feature I like about the Oura Ring is the readiness score. This is basically your recovery score. This number tells you how well you are recovering & how well you are able to perform based off your sleep, your activity, your HRV, resting HR etc! It tells you why your readiness may be low (maybe you have been training too hard with not enough sleep or maybe you are starting to get sick) & when your body needs rest. Or it’ll say, your body is recovering well, hit it hard today!

Activity Score

The next feature I want to talk about is activity. Activity tracks your steps, mileage, calorie burn & inactive time. I will say I probably use this feature the least of all of the Oura Ring’s features because I feel like it is slightly inaccurate (I feel like the step count and mileage is sometimes overcalculated) & most likely because I have an apple watch that automatically syncs to the Oura Ring app. You CAN use your Oura Ring to track your workouts but it is kind of a pain because you have to open the app and click on the plus sign to do so. I just find it easier to use my apple watch and have it sync automatically.

Pros:

• The fact that it now integrates with my main form of birth control, the Natural Cycles app, which is 98% effective with perfect use (aka not having unprotected sex on Red Days) and 93% effective with typical use.
• It collects SO much data every single day & night!
• You can turn off calories burned (this may be helpful for those who have struggled with ED’s)
• Battery life is amazing – it usually lasts me 5-7 days and can be fully charged in just one hour. 
• Syncs with the apple watch & automatically uploads your workout details into the Oura Ring app to impact your activity score.
• Completely waterproof! I shower and swim with mine on.
• You can use FSA/HSA to pay for the Oura Ring + the Natural Cycles App.
• You can order a sizing kit to make sure the size you are going to order is right for you. I will say they run a TAD small! Check our your local Best Buy too because sometimes they have sizing kits in store!
• The ring has a “Find Location” under settings if you ever lose your ring!

Cons:

• It DOES scratch easily. Mine is pretty scratched up because I do wear it for a good majority of my workouts. If you want to keep yours looking new, I would take it off for workouts or get a ring protector.
• It is a little bulky at first, I remember the first time I put it on I was like dang this is kind of bulky but you do get used to it quick and now I truthfully feel naked without it!
• You do have to pay for the app to get all of the data I talked about in this blog. It is $6/month for the membership (first month is free). Otherwise you only get a sleep, readiness and activity score with no extra data. I will say that although it is annoying that you have to have a membership after paying for a few hundred dollar ring, I do think it is worth it. I love seeing all of the data included.
• The Oura Ring doesn’t have a pregnancy feature, but the Natural Cycles app does have a follow pregnancy mode for those who are interested in learning more about their bodies and baby while pregnant.
• The charger is unique to YOUR ring & your ring size. So if you lose it you have to buy a new one because the ring cannot get charged any other way.

I hope you found this helpful,if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on IG (@bodyfitbalance) or email me bailey@bodyfitbalance.com & I would be more than happy to help!

I do have a support link with Oura that shows them I sent you & I do make a small amount of commission from it so if you found this blog helpful & want to support me, here is the link: 

OURA RING REFERRAL LINK

Additionally, I have a referral link for Natural Cycles that saves you 15% off a year membership (usually $14.99/month or $119.99 yearly) + gives you a free thermometer: 

I am so excited to be working with Natural Cycles as I have been a paying customer now for 4 years! I felt very confident in making the ultimate blog for you going over everything you need to know about the Oura Ring + Natural Cycles App! I hope this blog gives you all the information you need to decide if you want to spend your money on these products!

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to give this a read!

Bailey

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