If you want to become a super sleeper, then read on!
The first thing people asked when I posted this photo on Instagram a couple months ago, after my first night of tracking my sleep with the Oura Ring was:
“How do you get 2 hours and 32 minutes of Deep Sleep?”
There was a general tone of disbelief and envy, but as sleep, stress and anxiety have been my specialisms over the last 10 years, it stands to reason that I’ve since perfected the art of getting quality, deep, restorative sleep, and helping my clients to do the same.
Why does it make sense to track your sleep?
In my case, I used to live on 5 hours a night when I worked in my corporate job, and like many around me in that environment, thought I could thrive indefinitely on limited hours.
However, since dedicating my life to health and wellbeing, I now understand just how valuable sleep is. Just one night of poor sleep can impact your:
- hormones
- immunity
- memory
- mood
- weight
It can exacerbate stress, and make you moody and irritable, and you’re more likely to crave carbohydrates. It also affects you on a much deeper level when the problem becomes chronic. Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to increased risk of:
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Hypertension
- Memory loss
- Psychological disorders
So I started tracking my sleep because I needed to know how well I was recovering following my travels, my nights out, certain types of foods, and even after different types of exercise!
Oura Ring
While at the Biohackers Conference in LA this April, I invested in the Oura Ring. Why choose Oura over any other wearable on the market?
- It’s sleek, discreet and not bulky like other wearables.
- It needs charging once a week, and only requires a half hour to fully charge.
- The dashboard on the app showcases all the various data points outlined below in an engaging way.
- It measures Latency and Sleep Stages, so you can see the ratio of the quality of sleep you’re getting.
- It also measures Activity (steps), Body Temperature, Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Respiratory Rate and Resting Heart Rate.
- All these measures add up to give you a score each day, dubbed “Readiness”, so you know whether you should continue with a gruelling fitness session or intense work day, or pay attention to the signs that you might need to include more down time and recovery into your schedule.
1:1s
I’m such a believer in the ring, that in addition to all the other diagnostics that I’ve personally invested in over the years to understand my unique biochemistry and how to reduce stress and optimise rest and recovery, I now also include it as a real time measure for our 1-to-1 Sleep Better protocol.
If you’d like to improve your sleep using cutting-edge diagnostics, supported by the ring, I’ll be there to coach you along every step of the way.
Feel free to book time directly into my diary.
