We're in a sleep crisis. We know we're tired, we know it's affecting our wellbeing, but we don't know what to do about it. Enter the sleep tracker, an at-home device that delivers better understanding of your shut-eye, without you having to lift a finger.However, a new lawsuit alleges that wearable giant Oura is preying on our sleep woes by promising accuracy it can't deliver. Like all the best sleep trackers, the Oura Ring claims to identify sleep stages and patterns, offering data down to the minute. But is it skill or guesswork?I write about sleep for a living so even as an Oura Ring wearer, I admit it's not going to give 100% accuracy. But before you toss your Oura Ring 5 into the ocean like a dramatic divorcee, the Oura Ring's "guess work" can still help you sleep — here's how.The Apple Watch Series 12 is meant to be its best yet for sleep tracking but is there still a place for these bulky wearables?What does the Oura lawsuit allege?
(Image credit: Future)Oura is facing a lawsuit alleging that the company is misleading users about the accuracy of its sleep tracking.Oura says that the Ring 5 is the "gold standard in wearable sleep tracking," and, according to the suit, has previously claimed "95% accuracy."The lawsuit alleges it's a claim that Ring can't deliver on, as "sleep happens in the brain, not on one's finger." The complaint continues to allege that Oura uses "guess work" and AI models to deliver a "coin flip’s" chance at accuracy.Further, the lawsuit states that these practices are "deceptive." And that by falsely offering consumers an accurate understanding of their sleep, Oura is preying on the ongoing sleep crisis.Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.Oura claims the lawsuit is "baseless" and stands behind its sleep tracking.How accurate is the Oura Ring?No, your Oura Ring can't deliver the accuracy of polysomnography (PSG). These overnight sleep studies are the real gold standard in tracking. But that doesn't mean you should dismiss at-home sleep trackers, either."The healthiest approach is to view sleep trackers as helpful guides rather than report cards," says Dr. Shireen Emad, expert at Watches2U.The Oura Ring 5 measures sleep through a variety of variables. Your heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, body temperature and movement are all collected. This is then fed into an algorithm, trained on a large set of sleep data, which estimates your sleep stage. Oura claims that compared to PSG, this algorithm achieves 79% agreement.
