How a team of women turned the Oura Ring into an essential female health tool

It’s an unfortunate fact that women’s health often falls by the wayside. Even today, research predominantly focuses on men (or, more specifically, those who don’t have cycles). That lack of research has a trickle-down effect. Women are often gaslit in doctor’s offices, leaving us without solutions to health problems. Additionally, education for women and others with cycles is also severely lacking, resulting in a limited understanding of our bodies and what we experience. At best, this trio of problems can be frustrating and confusing, but at worst, it can lead to dangerous health problems from a failure to diagnose.

Enter Dr. Neta Gotlieb, Oura’s Women’s Health Product Manager. Dr. Gotlieb first started using the Oura Ring during her high-risk pregnancy. She had more questions than answers from her doctors, and the Oura Ring allowed her to at least get a baseline of health stats, so she could monitor things herself.

Dr. Gotlieb saw an opportunity to help women understand their bodies better, improving “body literacy,” as she describes it. She also recognized that by collecting data, women could have reports to bring to doctors when something seemed off. Oura was on board, and she joined the team initially as a scientist and then stepped into the Product Manager role. Now, it’s a team of women creating features to help women, which is a powerful dynamic.

Research on people with cycles is dangerously inadequate

Dr. Gotlieb shared with me the staggering sex bias in the science and medical worlds. “It isn’t malicious or intentional, but male has been the default in research,” she said. Even conditions that primarily impact women use male subjects (including in animal or cellular models).

Dr. Gotlieb went on to say that this sex bias is due to a longstanding belief that male subjects are simpler to study, largely because ovarian rhythm would increase overall variance in random samples. However, scientists at the University of California San Diego recently published a study that used an Oura Ring to track distal body temperature for six months and found that “Sex differences exist as expected, but across multiple statistical comparisons and timescales, there was no one group that consistently exceeded the others in variance.”

Related

Samsung Galaxy Ring: Breaking down what we know

Samsung is preparing to enter a new category. Here’s everything we know about the company’s latest wearable.

This exclusion from research has resulted in a large knowledge gap that is far from harmless. It leads to overprescribing of medication and misdiagnosing of serious health issues in women. Oura aims to change that and is very active in the research world. It recently launched a study with the University of California San Francisco Center for Reproductive Health to see how continuous physiological monitoring with the Oura Ring can help women with irregular cycles and PCOS. It’s also previously partnered with UCSD to uncover key patterns of pregnancy.

Women need better education

“Most of us are taught that women have periods, period,” Dr. Gotlieb explained. There is no education about our full cycle and what each stage does to the body. I only learned a few years ago about the different stages of our cycles and the impact of each one on how I feel, and I am firmly in my 30s.

It is extremely validating to know why you are feeling the way that you are. For example, Dr. Gotlieb and I chatted about how the phases of a cycle can impact motivation and performance in the gym. The luteal phase can leave us feeling sluggish and weak, and prior to knowing this, I would have been extremely frustrated by such a swing.

Understanding why that is happening is empowering and allows me to work with my body as opposed to against it.

“Instead of thinking you had a bad day in the gym, you can understand that you had a really good day based on your body that day,” advised Dr. Gotlieb. This mindset is definitely one I will be keeping with me.

Simply put, our education system fails people with cycles. As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Better education allows people with cycles to “understand their body even though they aren’t set up for success. It allows them to care for themselves accordingly,” as Dr. Gotlieb explains.

How does the Oura Ring factor into all this?

Its unobtrusive form factor is a huge help

The Oura Ring can serve as a supplemental support and education system for people with cycles. Using the array of sensors built into the ring, including a negative temperature coefficient sensor for measuring body temperature, the Oura Ring provides useful insight into your cycle.

When asked why the ring stands out over smartwatches that also measure temperature, Dr. Gotlieb says, “the biggest win is the form factor. You charge it once a week, it’s less obtrusive than a watch, and there’s no screen to distract you.”

Initially, Oura would simply predict when your period would start based on your temperature changes over time. “Cycle Insights was the next step, which adds another layer,” Dr. Gotlieb said.

Introduced in the fall of 2023, Cycle Insights offers a more detailed view of your monthly cycles. It is still based on temperature, as “after you ovulate, your temperature rises. Then, it drops if pregnancy doesn’t take place,” Dr. Gotlieb explained.

With Cycle Insights, users can see the average length of their menstrual cycle as well as which phase they are currently in. This information is especially useful and empowering for the one in 5,000 who are born without a uterus. “They can still see that they are having cycles and ovulating, which is validating for what they are going through,” Dr. Gotlieb says.

The Cycle Insights tool can also be very important for getting the most out of your body.

Every day is different, and this tool can help women understand how to exercise, eat, and sleep based on what they are currently going through based on their phases. It helps people with cycles make informed decisions and provides an intimate window into your own physiology so that you are an expert on you.

— Dr. Gotlieb, Oura

A better understanding of their bodies also allows people with cycles to see if and how their cycles are changing. For example, Dr. Gotlieb told me about one woman who noticed her cycles were quite irregular and long, and she also saw significant spikes in her body temperature.

She took this information to her doctor and was diagnosed with primary ovarian insufficiency, which caused perimenopause at only 27. Without seeing that data laid out, she may never have sought out medical care or could have been brushed off by the doctor.

How Oura helps pregnant individuals

I asked Dr. Gotlieb what she’s most proud of at Oura

Beyond being proud of her team of women supporting such powerful tools for women, she said she’s most proud of the app’s brand-new pregnancy features. Launched at the beginning of this month, the Pregnancy Insights feature is just the latest push from Oura to offer better information and education to women.

The new feature is designed to empower mothers-to-be as they go through the different stages of pregnancy. You can now enter that you are pregnant, track the gestational age, and get education on the maternal body. The feature is focused on the mother and her body, not necessarily the baby, which makes it stand out from different apps that help you track your pregnancy.

Dr. Gotlieb explained that women aren’t taught what to expect during pregnancy, so it’s challenging to know if what you are experiencing is normal or concerning. With data from your Oura Ring, the app can help you understand what your heart rate should look like over the course of your pregnancy or what your sleep should look like. It also provides weekly messages about changes to the maternal body based on that particular stage. All of this information can provide peace of mind, and allow pregnant individuals to have a better idea of when something could be wrong.

Beyond helping the mother, Dr. Gotlieb said that OBGYNs also find the history tab of the Oura app incredibly helpful when working with patients. You can also export data to send to your doctor, which is very convenient.

Related

Best Apple Watch fitness and health apps

Keep fit and healthy right from your wrist with these must-have apps.

Women’s health features moving forward

While Dr. Gotlieb could not provide any specifics about their plans, but she did say that they have a “very ambitious roadmap for this.” To aid in this growth, users can provide anonymous feedback about what they would like to see or want improved, and she said that information is seriously considered and evaluated.

Outside Oura, Dr. Gotlieb says she is excited that people are talking about women’s health more. She’s also very pleased to see President Biden’s push to focus on women’s health by expanding research and providing funding for sexual and reproductive issues. Support at that level is what is needed to improve our understanding of the female body. Tools like the Oura ring can aid in that research while also empowering individuals in their daily lives.