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About a month ago, I wrote about testing the Ultrahuman Ring Air, and I am very excited to now be sharing my first month’s experience wearing this nifty piece of fitness tech. In this article, I am going to go into detail about my experience wearing the ring, getting into the unique circumstances of this first month, the data I’ve gotten so far, and how I have been applying the advice they share in the app.
As I mentioned in my original post, I was gifted the Ultrahuman Ring Air for testing and review purposes, but I want to make it clear again that these opinions are my honest feelings about the ring. These smart rings are not cheap, so if you are looking into buying one of these for yourself, I want to give you as much information as possible so you can make a clear and confident decision.
For a quick, 90s review, check out my “90s Review of the Ultrahuman Ring Air” on my TikTok. If you want to save 10% on your Ultrahuman Ring Air, be sure to use code RileyPearce10 at checkout to save on your purchase.
Without further ado, let’s get into this first month review of my experience with the Ultrahuman Ring Air.
The Testing Environment
Whenever you run any kind of test, the environment in which the test is run in is super important and can have a significant impact on the results of the test.
For my first month wearing the Ultrahuman Ring Air, I was unexpectedly not able to work out or live my life according to my “normal” routines.
About 5 days into the test, while the ring was still calibrating to my unique health signals, I injured my upper hamstring and glutes to the point where it was almost too painful to walk. So I went from a daily routine of walking about 10K steps a day, working out every other day, to being completely sedentary.
Not only was I sedentary, but I was also in pain and stressed about the injury that I’d given myself. The combination of stress and pain impacted my sleep. So much so that I was only getting about 3 hours of sleep a night.
The Ultrahuman Ring Air was quick to pick up on this strange behaviour and quickly let me know my temperature seemed high, and I wasn’t getting restorative sleep (no kidding!)
The first week dealing with the injury was the worst, but about 8 days after realizing I’d injured myself, I started to feel better. This kicked off a true recovery period where I was able to move a little more freely without pain, I was getting back into my sleep rhythm, and I could start to gently rehab the injured area.
A final important factor to consider with this initial test is that because I wasn’t able to follow my normal routine, and I was sedentary for about 21 days, I modified my diet. I was still sticking to my high-fat, high-protein, low-carb lifestyle, but I was also incorporating longer fasting periods to encourage autophagy to help clear out the built-up inflammation. This can impact things like HRV, Heart Rate, temperature, and some of the stress signals that the ring would have picked up.
My favourite benefit of following this slightly modified fasting routine was that my sleep improved quickly. I was having truly restful sleep, and this also flipped the script on the data the ring was getting.
Speaking of data, I want to now get into some of the interesting data points that I get from the ring.
Data, data and more data!
I could tell from my research that the Ultrahuman Ring Air would have some impressive datapoints, but I was skeptical because I feel like I already get a good amount of data from my Garmin.
I was not prepared for how much data this ring would pull in. Not only that, but the interpretation of the data and the profile it is building for me based on that data is so interesting to dig into. The fact that I was sedentary and so many key metrics were thrown by that period (poor sleep, elevated heart rate, low HRV, etc.), gave me a version of myself that is serving as a cautionary tale.
If I were to stop doing all the things that contribute to a healthy lifestyle – getting good sleep, getting fresh air every day, walking often, weight lifting, eating 3 full balanced meals, and meditating – this is what my health metrics would look like.
It makes for a very interesting set of baseline data. One metric that I have not stopped thinking about is my “Ultra Age” and the factors that play into that age.
Right now, it puts my “Ultra Age” as 35, which is 4 years older than I am. Two sub-ages play into this calculation: Brain Age and Pulse Age. You can see in the screenshot above that my Brain Age has gone down, denoted by the arrow, and this is due to the improvements to my sleep that I’ve made since fully recovering from my injury.
But my pulse age is quite high at 36. This is largely driven by blood flow speed and blood flow smoothness.
Blood Flow smoothness, as you can see in the picture below, is essentially a measure of resistance that the blood experiences as it travels through the cardiovascular system.
If my blood vessels are stiff, or if there’s a build of plaque in the blood vessels, these factors can increase the resistance my blood experiences.
This may sound scary, and at first I was a little concerned. My family has a history of cardiovascular issues, making this piece of data one of the more significant for me personally. However, I am not worried at the moment.
This is where it is so important to think about the full picture of your health. For me, I know I am coming off of a stressful, sedentary, abnormal period of my life. So, having data that tells me that my cardiovascular system is under stress right now is a great reminder to get back to my old healthy habits and routines and to monitor this metric as my life gets back to normal.
If I get 6 weeks into my old routine and this number isn’t improving, I may be concerned then, but for now, I am going to just focus on getting back to my full self and giving myself the challenge to lower my Ultra Age over the next 6 weeks.
Power Plugs – Menstrual Phase tracking, caffeine window, and circadian clock
Something that I was excited to test out was the “Power Plugs”, or the extra health signals that you can ask the ring to track and provide recommendations on. The power plugs take some manual input, and their recommendations will improve the more you update “Tags” in the app.
So far, I haven’t really used them to their full potential, yet. I was in my luteal phase during the worst of the injury week, so when I received a notice that my temperature seemed elevated, it included a note that this may simply be due to the natural temperature fluctuations that occur during the luteal phase.
Caffeine window is a “nice to have” as someone who already feels pretty in tune with my tolerance to caffeine. Before I got the ring I knew that drinking anything caffeinated after about 1PM would mean that I’d have a hard time sleeping.
But the Caffeine Window power plug, as you can see in the image below, makes it very clear when the optimal time is for caffeine. I think those recommendations likely get even more specific when you log your caffeine in the app, so I will try testing this in the next month to see if I get new recommendations related to sleep and stress as it learns more caffeine consumption habits.
The final power plug is the circadian phase alignment power plug, which provides some guidance on how to optimize your life around your circadian rhythm.
The most interesting insight I have gotten from this power plug is to go for a walk outside during golden hour. I have read about and studied how the type of light just before dusk sends a specific signal to our brains that it is getting close to night time, so we should start metabolically preparing for sleep.
It’s a great reminder, and I definitely want to give these recommendations a proper test in the next month.
Where I think this will be extremely helpful is when I am travelling overseas later in the year. Jet lag really impacts me, and I feel like I am flying blind when I try to get onto the new timezone and then reset to my timezone, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what type of advice it gives me during those periods and if it actually helps me reset to the new timezones more quickly.
Areas for Improvement
In this first month of testing the Ultrahuman Ring Air, I have come across 2 things that I don’t love about the ring. The first is unavoidable with this type of wearable, but the second is definitely something that could be improved.
The first issue is just the fact that I have to take it off and put it back on all the time. The ring is waterproof, so you can go swimming with it if that’s something you do to stay active. But showering and washing my face or washing my hands, I always have to take it off because I don’t want it to get caught in my hair, or rub against my face, or get damaged by soap.
This is just something that comes with wearing a fitness tracker on your fingers, but I wanted to mention it in case you are considering a ring or something that you can wear on your wrist. With the ring, there are more moments where you would need to take it off than if you are wearing a smart watch or band.
With that said, I loved that I was able to go out dancing, and I didn’t have to wear my Garmin because my ring would be tracking my health metrics while I was out. I spoke about this in my original review, but fitness watches are not exactly subtle or stylish. The ring is much more subtle and more stylish, and allows me to get interesting data on how my body reacts to a night out.
The second issue is just that it feels like it dies quickly. There is a setting when you first start using the ring that allows you to put it on a “low battery” type of setting, but I want to be able to let the ring work at its full capacity and give me the maximum insights into my health.
I recharge the ring every 3-4 days, and it takes about 2 hours. My Garmin vivoactive 6 can go about 6 or 7 days, and it charges really quickly. Right now, this feels like a clunky, or “high-friction” experience, but I also think I am still getting used to the ring. Over time, I know I’ll build in charging periods into my routine that reduce the amount of time I am not wearing the ring.
However, it will be interesting to see how Ultrahuman and other smart ring brands improve battery life over time. In such a small piece of technology, I can imagine there are some serious challenges to getting a battery in there that can hold it’s battery for multiple days while delivering exceptional amounts of data to the user.
Those are my only two issues at the moment.
Final Thoughts and The Next Testing Phase
I would say that my first month using the Ultrahuman Ring Air has been really interesting. Because I was testing a fitness tracker during a time when I was not living my typical, active life, I actually think I got more valuable data from my first month wearing the ring than if I were testing it during a “normal” month.
I don’t wish 21 days of injury or illness on anyone for the sake of getting interesting data, but just want to be transparent that my experience feels like it has been enriched because of these unexpected circumstances. I need a silver lining after going through it!
Over the next month, I will be putting the ring through some interesting tests. I have a lot of social engagements over the next 4 weeks, and I am going into a very busy and stressful time at work, so the ring will be giving me insights into how those 2 (major) parts of my life impact my overall health.
And let’s see if I can get that Ultra Age down between now and the next review!
Let me know in the comments what questions you have about smart rings and I’ll do my best to answer them in the next review. Until then, don’t forget: Do Something Good for Your Body Today.
