A newly published study harnessing data from the Oura Ring has shown the impact of sleep quality on cognitive performance.
The research team conducted the study over two months, with participant sleep tracking data from the smart ring analyzed against Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PST) test results.
It also utilized the full gamut of Oura’s sleep-tracking metrics. Sleep latency, stage analysis, timing, restfulness, duration, and Oura’s sleep score were all looked at alongside night-time HR and HRV data.
Using these markers, it was found that elevated heart rates during the night and prolonged sleep latency were linked to decreased alertness levels the following day.
In the study, researchers also suggested that assessing patterns like typing speed and accuracy on a smartphone keyboard could be an alternative, complementary method of checking cognitive function alongside typical sleep data and scores.
With the brand only recently beating rivals in a sleep tracking accuracy study (and topping our recommendations as the best sleep tracker to own), it’s no surprise the smart ring has been used for another study.
While the findings aren’t necessarily unexpected, data from wearables hasn’t ever really been used to help grade the user’s cognitive function. However, as the researchers effectively suggest here, brands may be missing a trick by not offering prompts for further validation of tracked sleep data.
We’ve criticized trackers like Whoop for delivering overly sensitive readiness scores when we felt capable of handling a regular day.
Having something to back up a poor night’s tracked sleep (such as a quick keyboard test within the app) would be a great way of affirming that we’re still capable of a day at our desks, for example. And that’s especially true as even the top wearable sleep trackers are still only capable of ~75-80% accuracy in stage analysis.