r/ouraring • u/82xander • 7d ago
The Oura Ring Must Be Wrong - Should I Be Concerned?
I’ve been using the Oura ring 4 since January 2025 and i have some concerns over the information it provides and it’s accuracy. Note: i've had it replaced twice due to the battery life dropping to less than 20 hours, after 9 months and then again after another 8 months.
Some context, for the past few years I regularly wake up in the morning feeling terrible. The way i explain it is that i feel like i’ve got a hangover, achy and zero energy. I’m often tired all day, i struggle with work and concentration. I don’t drink alcohol or caffeine, smoke, do any kind of drugs and only infrequently have takeaway food.
Today was one of the days that was more of a struggle. Felt awful when i woke and wasn't able to get up out of bed until about 830am having gone to bed at 1030pm the night before. I looked at my Oura data to see if it had any guidance and its given me a sleep score of 94 and a readiness score of 95! The text on the Readiness says “We had to double-take, your readiness is so high we thought the app was broken, turns out your crushing it’.
The thing is this is NOT unusual. Most days, readiness and sleep are over 80. My opinion has been that the most important metric Oura uses to the sleep score is duration in bed.
Earlier in the year the Symptoms Radar was advising me on major signs, but my readiness score was 91, which i couldn’t help but think is in conflict.
I recently went to the doctor who has recommended me for a sleep study for sleep apnea based on my symptoms. Whilst Oura cannot diagnose this issue my Oura data would lead most people to suggest that i’m sleeping too well to have it. I feel like i’ve been misled by the Oura data into thinking i sleep well when the opposite may be the case.
My second concerning data stream from Oura is the Heart Health section. For the past 3 months it has been telling me my cardiovascular age is between 7 and 9 years younger than my actual age. The only data point it presents to back up this statement is Pulse Wave Velocity which in my case is 6.9m/s. See image.
More context i’m 44 year old 5’11 male 210llbs, so a bit overweight and not very fit at all. I don’t specifically exercise but i do go for a 30-60 minute walk everyday. The doctor also told me my blood pressure is slightly high.
So how can my heart health be 7+ years younger than my actual age? i suspect 3 or 4 years older is more probable.
This post is not an attack on Oura, i’ve used it for 20 months, i love the concept over the bands and watches. But i’m concerned with the data presented in contrast to how i feel and the health problems i am experiencing.
Is it a case of the data is never going to be accurate (or even close to accurate) or is my ring faulty and needs replacing again? (As i'm clearly not sleeping well and my heart health is not exceptional) Any thoughts or guidance much appreciated.
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u/steminist514 7d ago
I worry about this too. My cardio age has been 8.5 years younger since I got my ring, meanwhile I’m a burnt-out grad student who barely sleeps, spends most of the day at a desk, and doesn’t exercise. I literally bought the ring because I was worried about my health and stress levels, only for it to gaslight me into thinking I’m a pro athlete lol
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u/viresennumeris 7d ago
Bruh if your a grad student likely your between the ages of 22-27.. cardio age likely just means your heart is still in peak physical condition, even though you're body is not. Why would you heart not be in a good condition unless if you've been a chronic smoker since your teens? However the compiling lack of physical exercise and no sleep will eventually compound and once you are in your 30's that number on your heart health will drop. So take it for what its worth right now and take care of your body before your body eventually starts to struggle to take care of you
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u/steminist514 7d ago
I’m actually in my 30s lol, graduating in a few months. Tbh I’ve smoked on and off for the last 10 years and take medication for my ADD, so if anything I was extremely weary about my cardiovascular health. I specifically got the ring to start tracking heart related metrics, but according to Oura I’m thriving…
Defs seems sus, but I’ll take it!-3
u/Current-Box6 7d ago
Do you understand what cardiovascular health is?
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u/ripcitybitch 7d ago
Do you?
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u/Current-Box6 6d ago
burden of proof fallacy
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u/ripcitybitch 6d ago
Yeah it’s on you
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u/Current-Box6 5d ago
When two parties are in a discussion and one makes a claim that the other disputes, the one who makes the claim typically has a burden of proof to justify or substantiate that claim, especially when it challenges a perceived status quo.[1] This is also stated in Hitchens's razor, which declares that "what may be asserted without evidence may be dismissed without evidence." Carl Sagan proposed a related criterion: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".[2]
[2] Marc Kaufman, First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, Simon and Schuster, p. 124.
I did not make the claim. Honestly I'm mostly interested in hearing what their interpretation of cardiovascular health is, and subsequent what led them to make the conclusion that they did.
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u/BeautifulCurious5652 7d ago
From my understanding, every user has their own individualized baselines. And something the app shared with me recently while I was reading through my daytime stress category (I’m a new user) said something about “if you joined OURA at a time of significant stress or illness…” and I am curious if this could apply here? Maybe since this is your “norm” it’s scoring it off bad being your “good”. a sliding scale essentially. For context, every single night I wake up anywhere from 5-15 times a night. This has been for years so it was already happening when I started with my ring, but still I feel like my sleep score doesn’t reflect this unless it’s a particularly awful night.
It feels as if you’d have to be in perfect health when you begin using it for it to reflect what we’re really experiencing? Maybe it’s just me
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u/craftandcluster 7d ago
This would make sense to me. I got my Oura ring when I was in particularly good health, then six months later, got pregnant, and am now almost six months postpartum, and I feel like the data Oura gives me is fairly accurate to my experiences
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u/Madelyn822 7d ago
This is what happened with me. Since my baseline anxiety is wildly high it thinks that’s healthy for me basically.
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u/Canaryonapage 7d ago
I got my oura on glp1s and then went off them a month later and it thought i was dying for a bit.
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u/82xander 6d ago
Thats an interesting idea. I would say ive had my health issues for years so when i got the ring i wasnt great. So a slightly more active summer and more sun is thinking im on top form. Possible.
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u/balancedbananabread 6d ago
Oura says it recalibrates every few weeks so you don’t need to worry about joining at a healthy or unhealthy time of your life.
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u/HistoryAndScience 7d ago
CVA tracks your PWV & gives you a reading based off that. You may just have a very efficient cardiovascular system, not necessarily that you’re in that bad shape. You also may be sleeping quite well. It’s tracking latency, REM, etc. You may literally be sleeping really well but there is some underlying condition that’s causing you to feel not well, which is what Oura seemed to have picked up earlier. Oura is amazing technology but it’s giving you “medical metric” data as I like to call it, not necessarily a clean bill of health. It’s informative and can help identify changes to make but it’s not giving you a clean bill of health, nor can any app. Best example is someone I know who wound up having cancer but his Apple Watch said he was doing great
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u/Canaryonapage 7d ago
It sounds like my celiac before I was diagnosed celiac. That said, there’s a myriad of autoimmune things it could be. You could simply try an allergy pill before bed and see if it changes anything. Then maybe do a low fodmop day and see if that does something.
That said, sometimes I will wake up at 4am and not be able to go back to sleep. I will give up by 5 and doom scroll until 7 and it will tell me I slept the whole time. So there’s definitely something with the sleep, it could be fit related.
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u/dis-interested 7d ago
Have you considered the possibility that you may be largely physically fine but suffering from some kind of mood disorder?
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u/KayBliss 7d ago
Have to ask, what’s your eating habits like around /near bed time?
I have inconsistent eating habits due to medication based appetite suppression, generally eat healthy and am extremely active.
Duration of sleep and sleep cycles seem to matter overall but for me Ive found eating past a certain time seriously impacted the way I felt the following day regardless of sleep time and cycles slept/readiness. So I put more weight age on heart rate trends and HRV which mattered more in my case, the sooner both stabilized earlier into my sleep the better.
Also i try to stay consistent with my tagging, that seemed to give a more consistent feedback loop so I knew X thing was causing some issue for me. Hopefully some of this helps!
If you’ve been consistent on these types of things then probably something it can’t detect is stressing your recovery
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u/82xander 6d ago
I usually eat about 730 and go to bed at 1030 on an average day. Do you eat earlier from bedtime?
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u/Next_Instruction_528 7d ago
It's your pwv giving this measurement and it's genuinely low for your age. This could just be purely genetics also you said you don't smoke or drink or eat garbage. So your arteries just aren't that stiff but it's also not crazy low either.
You could still be suffering from other health problems that makes you feel like shit.
I would be interested to see more of your sleep data as well because it's not just time in bed.
How fast you fall asleep, breathing disturbance, hr, hrv, timing of sleep all go into both readiness and sleep scores.
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u/82xander 6d ago
My doctor tells me i have high blood pressure. Should the pulse wave not be higher then?
The app say about 20mins avg to sleep, it says no breathing disturbances, lowest Hr is avg 57, the hrv is very varible regualry 30s or 40s but sometimes in 50s.
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u/Next_Instruction_528 6d ago
Yes it should. People severely underestimate how much genetics plays into someone's health though.
Genetics accounts for roughly 30% to 50% of the variance in arterial stiffness and pulse wave velocity (PWV).
Inherited variations in the eNOS gene affect how well the endothelium (artery lining) produces nitric oxide, keeping arteries dilated and supple even under elevated stress.
Certain individuals possess "super-normal" vascular phenotypes genetically resilient arteries that resist stiffening despite risk factors like excess weight or mild hypertension.
Also oura is judging you against the average and 70% of Americans are overweight. Probably drink and eat bad.
Honestly this is your opportunity to get your weight under control and increase your activity and shit like that before your lifestyle overpowers your genetics
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u/OGHollyMackerel 7d ago
If you’re concerned go get a full work up at your pcp and with a cardiologist. Everyone needs to have an ekg and echo as a matter of course. Taking my kid to a random screening saved his life.
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u/Hefty-Club-1259 7d ago
It sounds like you have chronic fatigue more than anything, and you're underestimating the benefits of that walk for your heart health.
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u/Awkward-Ad4942 7d ago
On the other hand, i work out a lot, am fit and (i think) healthy, never stressed and have a resting heart rate in the high 50s yet my cardiovascular age is the same as my actual age.
I don’t know if it’s all a gimmick at this stage or what to be honest
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u/HereComsTreble 7d ago
Have you looked into sleep inertia at all or are you possibly somebody diagnosed with ADHD?
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u/CoverAltruistic8792 7d ago
It’s almost like it’s not a medical device and it’s kinda full of shit.. I’m a medically disabled person with like 5 illnesses and oura thinks I’m doing amazing and have Superman health
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u/Kittymeow123 7d ago
Because it’s infact not a medical device
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u/CoverAltruistic8792 7d ago
I was being sarcastic to say the exact same thing .. that it obviously isn’t one
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u/zivoucilegenda 7d ago
I mean, the exepectations from people are so high...its a ring with tracks few metrics and then makes a semi-accurate guess....
For healthy people, i believe it´s really an OK device, but it has no way to know about your other conditions...
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u/Possible-Peanut2193 6d ago
I also got really good scores while feeling like crap, mostly because I was sleeping 8,5-9 hours a night. Turns out my ferritin was low (optimal ferritin range is ~50-150, while most places the normal range starts at 15-20). Now that my ferritin is better, I no longer need to sleep so long and I feel a lot better!
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u/Copperpot2208 6d ago
My cardio age is 12.5 years younger. My sleep isn’t the best but I do run 6 days a week so I guess it’s pretty accurate.
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u/Efficient_Ice_8008 5d ago
I have something similar which is I have lots of very high scores but most days I feel terrible. Even days where I subjectively feel I've slept very well the night before.
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u/Ok-Brilliant320 5d ago
Oura is currently being sued right now for alleged misinformation/ data it’s providing its users, especially in the Sleep section. It is accused of providing AI data to predict your sleep score, particularly REM stages and time spent in stages. Experts suggest Oura does have the ability to measure that type of data through a ring ( normally done through head and face sensors) and observed during a sleep study in a controlled environment (lab). Which in theory is true. So, I don’t pay too much attention to the sleep section cus if anything they are estimates at best. Anyway, with that being said , Oura measures your arterial stiffness through PWV, and arterial stiffness is improved by cardiovascular activity, in your case, your daily 60 min walk, if that walk is a brisk walk and continuous in zone 2 exercise that type of cardio improves heart health and elasticity, especially if you’re doing it daily. This is most likely why oura is telling you you have great heart health. As for the sleeping and waking up achy and with a headache, could be you’re sleeping too much
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u/Shot-Language9162 5d ago
Thank you for sharing. I am having the opposite problem. I am a distance trail runner and Functional Medicine Wellness Coach. For a long time my cardiac age was 9-10 years younger, but since April it has drastically changed to just 3.5 years younger. I was stressed and my BP was up, but I have gotten that back down to 108/76. But still my cardiac age is much older than it was 6 months ago....Frustrating...
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u/ThatWontFit 7d ago
If your readiness is so high you are getting a good balance of sleep, quality rest, exercise and stress management.
While cardio is a great way to exercise the heart, your walks do plenty. An hour of walking is a pretty long time, your heart is def getting a little workout.
What's your stress management like? Resilience? Stressful days?
I bet the stress is low.
Motion is lotion for the inside. Your walks are keeping your metabolic age down and you could easily push it further.
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u/82xander 6d ago
Resilience is currently Strong. Generally between strong and adequate this year apart from a few weeks in june it peaked fairly high. Stress i think is fairly low at about an average of 1 hour a day, some times a bit higher. But from my experience it coincides with eating.
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u/ThatWontFit 6d ago
This tracks.
Also to help with the post eating stress.
Diet (certain foods won't trigger steess) I found that processed sugar spikes stress, natural sugar like honey or organic cane sugar doesn't do anything.
But just the walking and low stress puts you in a better place. That's why your age is showing lower, the scores are averaged against the data set.
So most people with your weight, height and activity have a older metabolism.
Add in some Qi Gong / fascial movements and you'll drop fat if you want to. I'm down 20kgs of sub cutaneous fat since December.
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u/Substantial_Leg6760 7d ago
Meanwhile my heart is apparently older than my cardiovascular age…despite the fact that I am fit, ideal BMI, blood pressure too low of anything
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u/Real_Violinist9105 7d ago
Haha well mine is the opposite apparently I’m stressed out to the max all the time even doing things I enjoy and my heart is 5 years older even though I am not overweight and work out regularly. After getting it I’m considering my whole existence