Unlock Better Health: How Oura’s Enhanced Readiness Score Transforms Your Wellness Insights

Your menstrual cycle can change how you feel throughout the month. However, many wearables, like smartwatches or rings, often overlook these changes when giving energy or sleep scores, sometimes mistaking them for stress. Oura is addressing this with a new Readiness Score update.

Recently, Oura revealed a refreshed Readiness Score that now includes menstrual cycle changes in its calculations. Every morning, Oura users get a score out of 100 based on their recovery from the previous day’s activity and sleep. This score also looks at your heart rate and body temperature, alerting you to any significant changes.

Hormonal changes during your cycle affect your vital signs. For instance, heart rates tend to rise in the luteal phase and lower in the follicular phase due to hormonal fluctuations. After ovulation, body temperature typically goes up. Previously, Oura’s algorithm saw these changes as stress indicators.

Shyamal Patel, senior vice president of science at Oura, stated that this update is a great example of how they use scientific research to improve health insights for users.

The new algorithm will provide more accurate daily scores, and around 35% of users who track their cycles may notice no change during the luteal phase, according to the company.

This update coincides with Oura starting a study to explore “biobehavioral changes” during pregnancy. The aim is to better understand conditions like postpartum depression and risks for miscarriage or preterm labor.

Co-founder of the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center, Ed Ramos, highlighted the role of wearable tech in improving our understanding of maternal health through real-time data on physiological changes during pregnancy.