Oura, the wellness tracker that’s led the smart-ring pack relatively unopposed up until Samsung’s recent Galaxy Ring announcement, announced a new feature Tuesday called Pregnancy Insights. It’s rolling out now and is meant to give wearers context into how changes in their body (like heart rate and sleep problems) correlate with different stages in pregnancy.
The new feature will follow your gestational age (how pregnant you are) and offer weekly updates on what physiological changes are expected. Some of these changes, like unusual sleep patterns and heart rate differences, may show up in Oura data and affect your Readiness Score.
The goal is, then, to give pregnant Oura wearers more context into their data and offer a comparison to what other pregnant people have experienced, based on research and population-level data.
The insights will be geared toward the person wearing the ring — not the baby or fetus. Neta Gotlieb, women’s health product manager and clinical research scientist at Oura, wrote in a company blog post that you should talk to your doctor if you have questions. (That’s also true of any wearable-given data.) Gotlieb noted that “every pregnancy is unique and deviations or fluctuations are not necessarily a negative sign,” so don’t get alarmed if your data deviates from the insight information you’re provided.
“Pregnancy is one of the most physiologically significant events in many members’ lives,” Gotlieb wrote. “Our goal with this feature is to equip our pregnant members to better know their bodies and take care of their health accordingly.”
While this isn’t a huge device update or tech advancement, Oura’s latest step into women’s health is aligned with wider health tech trends. Companies are increasingly treating reproductive health metrics, such as menstrual cycle regularity and pregnancy, with similar significance to other aspects of health.
Apple, for example, has cycle tracking in its Health app and an ongoing women’s health study which has contributed research into health problems associated with irregular cycles and more. The temperature-tracking abilities of wearables, such as the Oura ring, Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch 5, have extended into better cycle predictions.
Read more: Galaxy Ring: My Hands-On Experience With Samsung’s Chic Wearable
How to get Pregnancy Insights from your Oura ring
To get pregnancy information with your Oura ring, follow these steps:
1. Open the Oura app.
2. Go to the menu at the top left of your home screen. Pregnancy Insights should be in the Women’s Health settings. You can also use a tag to flag a positive pregnancy test.
3. Once you’ve confirmed you’re pregnant, your Cycle Insights homecard will be replaced with Pregnancy Insights.
How is sleep affected when you’re pregnant?
One of Oura’s uses is as a sleep tracker, so you can wear it throughout the night to get a better idea of their sleep quality. Many pregnant people report problems sleeping, or having their sleep patterns change as their pregnancy progresses, sometimes trimester to trimester. Hormonal changes, stress, weight gain, changing energy levels and more factors that come into play during pregnancy can all influence sleep quality.
For more, read about the best sleeping positions for pregnancy, which natural sleep remedies are safe during pregnancy and why your baby may be more active at night. Also, check out how a new smart ring designed specifically for women could shake up wearable expectations.
