Last Updated on February 10, 2022 by James Matthews
When it comes to taking better control of your health and fitness, it helps to have more insightful data on what’s really going on in your body. That’s where smart rings and straps come into play, being able to track your sleep, heart rate, activity levels, and calorie burning during the day.
With this data, you can then change your current lifestyle to better address your health and fitness concerns. So, let’s go over two of the more popular wearable technologies (Oura & Whoop 4.0) and talk about what makes each so unique.
Oura
Since we’ve already written about the Oura Ring here, we’re going to just give you a basic rundown of what to expect when you buy the Oura Ring. So, here’s what you absolutely need to know about the Oura Ring.
A Run Down of the Features
Let’s start off with the physical design of the Oura Ring. It weighs in at a very light 0.25 ounces but is rather durable given its titanium steel construction.
The battery of the Oura Ring is known to last an astounding seven days and only takes about 60 minutes to fully charge. Even better is that this smart ring uses red infrared technology instead of green, meaning it reaches deeper into your cardio system and works on all skin tones.
The Oura Ring is actually capable of tracking your body temperature, which can help to warn you of looming illnesses or hormonal imbalance. It’ll also give you alerts during the day to let you know it’s time to get active and start moving.
It’ll keep track of your sleep quality, how long you spend in each sleep stage, your heart rate during the night, and how long it took you to fall asleep. This is all data that you wouldn’t know without the help of wearable technology.
The sleep data will then be used to generate a readiness score, which will describe how ready you are to take on the tasks of the day. The higher the readiness score, the more able you are to participate in intense exercise.
When you find yourself a little stressed out, you can also use the “Moment” feature on the app. This will walk you through a meditation session to help you to lower your heart rate and induce relaxation.
Whoop Strap 4.0
The Whoop Strap 4.0 isn’t a smart ring, but it’s still capable of providing you with immediate feedback regarding your current health and fitness levels. All you have to do is strap on the lightweight band and you’re ready to take control of your health.
If you’re looking at wearable technology, it’s probably because you plan to stay active, right? Because physical activity usually means a lot of sweat, the Whoop 4.0 band is actually made of breathable and sweat-absorbing material.
The battery life is decent too, usually lasting around five days on a single charge. So, you don’t have to constantly have a charger on hand as some devices might.
You can even get the band for free, so long as you pay the monthly membership fee. This fee is usually about $30 a month, which might be a little expensive for most people or anyone on a budget.
Sleep & Readiness
What’s pretty great about the Whoop 4.0 band is that it tracks your sleep in-depth. It’ll let you know just how long you spend in each stage of sleep, including light sleep, REM sleep, and deep sleep.
The device will also record how often you wake up and the ratio of time spent asleep and time awake. Based on that, you’ll be given a sleep score that describes how efficiently you slept the previous night.
But, the Whoop 4.0 band also grabs biohacking by the horns. The app will keep track of your sleep habits and will make sleep recommendations to help you to get longer, more efficient sleep every night.
You’ll even be able to see this data described via a graph on the Whoop app. You can then see where your heart rate was over the course of the night and figure out what your true resting heart rate really is.
Heart Rate
You might not realize it right now, but your heart rate is actually a determining factor in how fit you currently are and the current state of your health. Whoop does what it can to use your heart rate data to make fitness recommendations.
First off, it keeps track of your heart rate variability, which basically describes the exact amount of time between heartbeats. It also keeps track of your resting heart rate, especially when you’re in a deep sleep.
With this data, the Whoop app can determine just how ready you really are for exercise and how intense you should go. It does that by generating “recovery” and “strain” levels.
Fitness Tracking
The recovery number will let you know how prepared your body is for exercise, especially if you’re engaged in a hardcore training routine. The green zone means you’re absolutely ready, the yellow zone lets you know to take it easy, and the red zone tells you to take a day off.
The strain number describes how your heart rate changes over the course of the day. This will let you know if you exercised a little too hard and that it might be time to take it easy to benefit your health.
So, your Whoop 4.0 band will help you to find an ideal middle ground between your strain and recovery to optimize your performance and fitness.
Social
You might feel motivated to work out and maintain your health right now, but motivation sometimes slips here and there. What seems to help is teaming up with other people to work on your fitness together.
What’s great about the Whoop app is that you can make a team with your friends and family. You can then compete against other teams that use the app and see if you can make your way onto the leaderboard.
What’s even better is that you can view your monthly performance data across the board online. You can then use this data in order to change your diet, sleep, or exercise habits to better biohack your health.
Oura vs. Whoop: Who Benefits From Either Product
There’s no doubt that both the Oura Ring and the Whoop Strap 4.0 can help you to improve your health and fitness overall, but each one clearly targets certain subsets of people. So, let’s go over who would benefit from each product most.
Fitness Enthusiasts
Technically, either device would be useful for tracking your fitness. However, the Whoop Strap 4.0 really takes into consideration how your body is functioning and how prepared you are for some type of athletic performance.
For example, you’ll keep track of how ready your body is for exercise with the recovery number and how much effort you actually put into your workout with the strain number. It’s every fitness enthusiast’s dream.
Basic Fitness Tracking
If you’re just starting out and looking to improve your health and fitness, you’re basically starting at nothing. So, any data is better than nothing right?
The Oura Ring is great for anyone simply looking to improve their fitness day-by-day. You’ll be able to visualize how much better sleep quality you’re getting, how many steps you’re taking over the day, and how your heart rate is impacted with activities.
It does everything it needs to do without going way over the top and providing you with features you don’t exactly need just yet.
Cost Cutting
Even though you can get the Whoop 4.0 strap for free, it does come with a monthly fee of around $30. Over a year, that means you’re spending $360 just to keep track of your fitness levels and health.
The Oura Ring is definitely best if you’re on a budget. Currently priced at $299, you have the choice between an Oura Ring (which can probably last for years) and a membership for the Whoop Strap 4.0 for only 10 months.
Useful Insight
So, both apps will give you weekly data and keep track of your performance improvements. At the same time, the Whoop 4.0 band goes into a lot more depth when it comes to detailed feedback for an entire month.
If you want to keep track of your heart rate, steps, caffeine intake, alcohol intake, sleep performance, and practically every other factor of your health, you definitely want to go with the Whoop 4.0 band.
Final Thoughts
So, when it comes to Oura vs. Whoop, which is better? Well, they both have their own benefits.
The Whoop Strap 4.0 is definitely more insightful and best for those very serious about improving their fitness. But, the Oura Ring is an ideal choice for anyone looking to better understand their fitness level and save a little money in the process.
