Smart devices are getting both smarter and smaller all the time. The newest must-have technology is one of the smallest: a wearable smart ring. These devices are capable of tracking everything from the steps you take to the quality of your sleep, lending valuable insights about your health and fitness.
Keeping your body moving is a proven way to boost your health. And now new research out of the University of Southern Australia reports that using a wearable fitness tracker (such as a smart ring) may lead to exercising more and losing more weight. More specifically, the study finds these tracking devices encourage people to walk up to 40 minutes more per day (roughly 1,800 more steps). This results in an average weight loss of 2.2 pounds over the course of five months.
Likewise, sleep is of critical importance to overall health and wellness. A recent survey commissioned by Mattress Firm, found that one in four Americans consistently slept poorly in 2019, with participants reporting averaging less than six hours of sleep each night. Additionally, respondents had an average of 105 “terrible” nights of sleep last year, compared to 99 in 2018. This kind of poor-quality sleep can impact the body in all kinds of ways, from lower cognitive performance to increased clumsiness.
Great sleep, on the other hand, may even add years to your life. Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston report that the benefits of good rest reduce the risk of death from any cause by up to 30 percent. Scientists reveal the five key habits as: seven or eight hours of sleep a night, difficulty falling asleep no more than twice a week, trouble staying asleep no more than twice a week, not using any sleep medication, and feeling well rested when waking up at least five days a week. Overall, life expectancy was 4.7 years greater for men and 2.4 years greater for women who reported having all five quality sleep measures, compared with those who had none or only one of the five favorable elements of low-risk sleep.
The first step to improving areas of your health like fitness and sleep is to understand them. Data provided by a wearable tracker like a smart ring can be the first step to living your best life, whether you’re sleeping or awake. To help kickstart your wellness journey, StudyFinds searched the internet for expert opinions on the best smart rings. These five are the top recommendations across ten expert websites, but if you have a favorite that we missed, be sure to let us know in the comments!
The List: Best Smart Rings According to Tech Experts
1. Oura Ring Gen3
If you’ve heard of only one smart ring, it’s probably the Oura. The brand has become nearly synonymous with ring smart devices, and for good reason. “The Oura Gen3 earned an excellent 4-star score in our review, and we awarded it our Wearable of the Year to boot,” boasts Wareable. “It’s not just the best smart ring on the market, but an excellent fitness tracker in its own right.”
“Simply put, if you want to really know what it’s like to get in on the smart ring game then this should be your first pick,” claims Men’s Health. “We’re talking about pinpoint readings of SPO2 levels, heart rate, and sleep metrics. The Oura even goes so far as to help you with activity goals, which alert you when you’ve hit specific fitness metrics set by you on the app. Last to mention is the awesome battery life. You can get up to 7 days of consistent power with a full charge that takes between 20-80 minutes.”
If you want a crystal clear understanding of your health metrics in an easy to understand way, the Oura is the smart ring for you. “Our Media & Tech pros love the Oura Ring and were impressed by how effectively it tracked sleep and other key stats like heart rate and body temperature,” Good Housekeeping adds. “Testers found the app extremely intuitive and easy to use, noting that they liked how various metrics are broken down into overall scores, including readiness (a holistic picture of your health), sleep and activity.”
2. Circular Smart Ring
If your primary goal for your smart ring is to get a clearer picture of your physical fitness, the Circular Smart Ring is the pick for you. “Track your heart rate, breathing rate, temperature, blood oxygenation and other health metrics with this feature-rich smart ring that keeps tabs on your activity 24/7,” lists Good Housekeeping. “You can analyze your performance and access recommendations for improvement through the app, where you’ll find other data like energy scores, wellness graphs and sleep cycles.”
Though not yet ready to order, the highly anticipated new device is expected to become available in May of 2023. “The Circular Ring is one of the newest additions to the health tracking industry and comes filled to the brim with a whole number of impressive tracking elements,” explains Evening Standard. “Designed to help you understand and improve your sleep with simple and impactful insights, the Circular Ring analyses your body signals during your sleep to help you keep track of its efficiency while helping you to improve its quality.”
“Although pretty similar to the Oura ring, a stand-out feature of the Circular Ring is a button that can be used to control apps on your smartphone, like changing a song mid-workout,” adds Zeel. “This super light, 4-gram ring is nickel-free (making it hypoallergenic) and can be customized on demand with interchangeable outer shells in black, silver, gold and rose gold.”
3. Go2sleep Ring
Sometimes a good night of sleep is just what the doctor ordered. If you’ve been struggling to get some quality shuteye, the Go2sleep Ring can help you understand why and fix the problem. The primary purpose of this ring is to deliver insights on sleep health through tracked metrics including heart rate, HRV, and blood oxygen. “Good sleep is critical to your health, so it’s important to understand whether you’re getting enough quality rest every night,” Good Housekeeping explains. “For sleep tracking, our pros recommend this smart ring from Sleepon designed specifically to give you an in-depth understanding of your sleep trends and patterns.”
“While it tracks general health data, it shines when it comes to tracking your overnight progress,” adds Evening Standard. “This budget friendly tracker keeps note of Heart Rate, HRV & Blood Oxygen with minute by minute reports that allow you to keep a keen eye on your body’s going-ons. Each morning, check the ring’s app to see up to date information on exactly how you slept.”
And if you’re worried about trying to get to sleep with a clunky ring on your finger, the Go2sleep ring is surprisingly comfortable. “The Go2Sleep is a budget-friendly device you can comfortably slide on your finger,” explains Men’s Health. “The big sensor on the end actually faces into your palm, so if you curl your hand up it will theoretically fit into that natural pocket.”
4. BodiMetrics Prevention Circul+ Wellness Ring
For those looking for a boost to their fitness and sleep health, the BodiMetrics Prevention Circul+ Wellness Ring offers a more complete picture of wellness performance. “Get a holistic view of your sleep, activity and overall wellness with the assistance of this smart ring which features continuous blood oxygenation (SpO2) and heart rate tracking,” says Good Housekeeping. “Our pros like that it tracks temperature, sleep stages, calories burned and more on a daily basis.”
“The Circul+ exists at the top of the current smart ring market thanks to quality sensors, which help deliver largely reliable data sets for users to interpret,” notes Men’s Health. “The Circul ring can track your SpO2 24 hours a day—which would be a difficult feat with a finger clip-based oximeter. This more convenient alternative sends notifications to your connected smartphone app (Circul App) if you have any oxygen or heart abnormalities detected and you can also create your own customizable threshold alerts—which can be useful when you start getting chest pains during a HIIT workout, for example,” Zeel adds. “In Exercise Mode it monitors and records step count, heart rate, calories burned etc. In Sleep Mode it does nighttime blood oxygen, heart rate, ODI and sleep stages monitoring and the tracker report shows you your sleep stages including REM, Awake, Light and Deep sleep.”
5. JAKCOM R5 Smart Ring
For busy people who want their world quite literally at their fingers, the JAKCOM R5 Smart Ring makes juggling work, sleep, and health look easy. “A great choice for multi-taskers who want to track health metrics while also sharing documents and storing important things, the JAKCOM R5 Smart Ring really does do it all,” claims Evening Standard. “Besides how cool and smart it looks, Jakcom will also act as your personal assistant, as it will cover most of the small details for you throughout your day,” Interesting Engineering adds.
“Made of liquid tungsten and pure titanium, this Altom Jakcrom R3 Smart Ring is a great way to connect to all your gadgets,” says Mom Junction. “It is a great addition to your accessory collection with its sturdy and fashionable design. The inside of this ring is powered with FIR energy stone and volcanic magnet that protects you from electromagnetic waves, while soothing your nerves.”
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Sources:
- ZD Net
- Wareable
- Men’s Health
- Good Housekeeping
- Interesting Engineering
- Gadgets & Wearables
- Zeel
- The Droid Guy
- Mom Junction
- Evening Standard
Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations. This article may contain affiliate links.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming Iris ring on Kickstart?
Quite simply they look abysmal. In fact the ones attempting to have an aesthetic generally look even worse than the ones that don’t. Electronic components are still too bulky but we are close to these being feasible.
I’m glad to see alternatives to the Oura ring. They sent me a sizing chart and their max size is still too small for average American men.
Strange there’s this ring call Xenxo ring that was supposed to be a smart ring and till this day haven’t heard from them paid them in full and no response can any help me this l believe scam this is my fault in believing in it and it was a Kickstart program so if you can please email me l’m tryin to get my ring or money back
Didn’t click on any ads or affiliate links
So no one heard of this ring Xenxo till this day l have not heard from them maybe someone can know someone that bought this ride! Please don’t fall for their k8ck start program its a scam