A woman who wears her smart ring ‘religiously’ has praised the wearable for spotting the signs of deadly blood cancer before she knew that something was seriously wrong.
Nikki Gooding, a nurse from Virginia in the US, was diagnosed with blood cancer Hodgkin lymphoma early this year, after suffering a bout of night sweats and extreme fatigue.
Her temperature was also constantly raised and her heart felt like it was beating faster than normal.
However, unsure of what could be causing the problem, she decided to ignore it.
But it wasn’t until her Oura ring — a wearable health monitor worn by famous faces like Gwyneth Paltrow and Prince Harry — began giving her red alerts that she decided to seek medical help.
The smart ring, which looks like a wedding band, tracks various health metrics, calculating the wearer’s movement, temperature, sleep quality and heart rate.
It can even detect illnesses like flu or Covid.
Ms Gooding’s ring picked up on crucial changes to her heartbeat, sleep quality and body temperature — warning her that something was seriously wrong.
‘I religiously wear my Oura ring,’ she said in a TikTok video that’s so far been viewed more than 2.5 million times.
‘I came home from a trip, started having night sweats, was super fatigued.
‘I knew something was wrong but I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, so I kind of ignored it.’
But every day, the app paired to her ring would show a warning on top of its usual diagnostic information.
This red warning of ‘major signs’ alerts the user to the fact that their biometrics are showing highly unusual patterns.
‘It uses [body temperature] information to help track your [menstrual] cycle,’ said Ms Gooding.
‘But it’s nice because it can also give you a heads up when you’re getting sick.
‘When I started having night sweats and fevers and everything, my temp was spiking as high as 2.7 above my baseline.’
The app encouraged her to take additional care and rest.
Prince Harry made a buzz around the Oura ring in 2018 when he was snapped wearing the titanium jewellery during a trip to Australia. The Duke of Sussex sported the black band on his right ring finger on the first three days of outings in Australia alongside Meghan Markle
Wellness guru Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, has also shared snaps of herself wearing the ring on multiple occasions
But the sky high temperature readings were enough to push her to see her doctor.
And just a few weeks later, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system — a network of vessels and glands spread throughout your body.
Night sweats, high temperature and fatigue are all common symptoms of the condition, which is the most common cancer amongst teenagers and young adults.
‘If I didn’t have the Oura ring, I’m sure I would have figured it out eventually,’ said Nikki.
‘But having this information, laid out in front of me, definitely made me take it more seriously.
‘Because if you’re a nurse, you know — we’re not running to the doctor for any little thing.
‘So if you needed a sign to get an an Oura ring — this is it.’
The Oura ring, launched back in 2013 by Oura Health, a Finnish technology company, comes with a hefty price tag, starting at £299 and costing up to £549
Launched back in 2013 by Finnish technology company Oura Health, the ring comes with a hefty price tag, starting at £299 and costing up to £549.
The company claims the ring is the first wearable designed to paint a truly holistic picture of your health.
On social media, users obsess over their sleep and stress scores and confess to making dramatic lifestyle changes, like cutting out alcohol or overhauling how they sleep, for better results.
The ring tracks health using three sensors: Tiny infrared lights that measure heart and breathing rate, while an accelerometer tracks movement, and a body temperature monitor spots fevers and forecasts women’s menstrual cycles.
While an Apple Watch, Garmin or Fitbit record much of the same data, Oura insists being a ring sets it apart.
The location — the index finger is recommended — means it captures signals directly from the heart to provide better data than can be gathered on the wrist, it claims.
Researchers have even found that sleep monitoring data measured by the Oura Ring coulddetect illnesses like flu or Covid.
The scientists, who tracked the sleep patterns of more than 30,000 Americans, identified five main types of sleep, which they dubbed sleep phenotypes.
They discovered how often someone switches between phenotypes could help predict whether they’ll develop certain health conditions.
The study tracked data from more than five million nights of sleep and logged how often they participants between phenotypes.
They found the ring correctly spotted if wearers were suffering a fever, flu and Covid — as well as signs of sleep apnoea and diabetes.
In a statement to the media, Oura Health clarified that the ring is intended to ‘support proactive health awareness rather than reactive care’.
‘Oura Ring is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, monitor, or prevent medical conditions or illnesses.
‘Instead, our technology aims to complement the healthcare system by helping users better understand their bodies and have more productive conversations with medical professionals.’
