A Mother’s Day Gift Moms will Actually Want
Everyone take note: Mother’s Day is approaching quickly. Moms love flowers, candles, robes and books. Some of us even like breakfast in bed. But what we really love is knowing that our family is thinking of us and sees the effort, care and work we put into our family.
I’ve learned (over my 7.5 years of experience in the field) that I am the best parent to my children when I am taking good care of myself. And so, approaching my 40th birthday, I’m taking stock of my wellbeing and have been implementing changes to my lifestyle. Most notably, I’ve become an early-morning exercise person, leaving my house a few mornings a week for a 5:45am workout class. I’ve realized that what keeps me motivated is setting daily goals and reaching them, tracking my progress and, if I’m honest, seeing my friends before the sun comes up.
Instead of investing in updating my Apple Watch, I have been wearing the Oura Ring 4 for the past three weeks, experimenting with a new way of tracking my progress. The Oura Ring is a smart ring – a piece of wearable technology with advanced sensors for direct measurement from the arteries in your finger – designed to help you better understand your health. The Oura Ring tracks movement, sleep and stress with the goal of increasing your wellbeing and longevity. It’s become my new suggestion when anyone asks for a Mother’s Day gift idea.
Buying rings online is hard to do confidently – as you never quite know about sizing. Ordering the Oura Ring was very easy – Oura sends you a sizing kit in the mail so that you can experiment with the way the ring will feel on your finger. I chose a size big enough to allow me to wear it on my index finger – and I love the plain gold aesthetic, which blends in with my regular jewelry. I like that it doesn’t look like I’m wearing a sporty piece of tech. It looks elegant, yet simple.
While more time is needed to calibrate all of the data Oura can provide, I think I am off to a good start. The Oura Ring has most notably impacted my focus on sleep. Receiving a score each morning, rating my quality of sleep has become rather addicting – in a good way. Using the App on my iPhone, I receive a nudge at 9 o’clock every night suggesting that I begin the process of winding down. Turns out, it has been working!
The benefits are not isolated to sleep data. I also find it to be a more accurate measurement of heart rate when exercising and I am learning valuable things about my stress levels and what makes them spike. With my 40th birthday coming closer, I know I will gain insight into perimenopause symptoms as I begin to experience them.
As my Oura app continues to calibrate my health data and provide me with new insights each day, I will continue to compete with myself to optimize my sleep – because what is better than a good night’s sleep for a Mom? The answer: absolutely nothing. ouraring.com
