“Biohacking is the art and science of optimizing your performance, health and wellbeing with the help of technological and biological tools.”
– Biohacking Handbook, 2016
After the lackluster communication during the Oura Ring Gen 3 launch, you’d think things would be different this time around. Unfortunately, it looks like both long-time customers and fans are once again left in the dark—especially regarding the most important question:
Is there an upgrade offer for Gen 3 customers?
Judging by the deafening silence from the Oura team, the answer seems to be a resounding “no.”
Continue reading “Where’s our upgrade offer for Oura Ring 4?”
First off, let me be honest. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to say when anyone “starts biohacking” – especially if the term biohacking wasn’t widely used around that time! What I can say for a fact is that I started intermittent fasting (or time restricted eating, as it should be called) in May 2013. I believe the IF boom gave rise to popularization of biohacking as well. I started subscribing to Biohakkerin käsikirja (Biohacker’s handbook) newsletter in May 2015 and got the pre-ordered book roughly a year later, I believe. The second-generation Oura ring was unveiled in Slush, October 2017, which I also pre-ordered.
So, I’d say I wasn’t in the first wave of biohackers – which of course was preceded years if not decades earlier by the “quantified self” movement – but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say I was interested in this space before it became as mainstream as it is today. Next, let’s take a look at what exactly I’ve been doing, and most importantly, what I’ve learned.
Continue reading “After 10 years of biohacking, this is what I’ve learned”
My most popular article ever, Before You Buy an Oura Ring (a List of Missing Features), seems to be gathering a lot traffic since Gen3 Ring was launched. I figured it would be helpful to list those Gen2’s missing features and see if they have been fixed in Gen3. Here’s what I’ve learned after a few weeks of using the brand-new Oura ring.
Continue reading “Did Oura Ring Gen3 Address the Big Issues or Not? Let’s Have a Look.”
TL;DR
Current Gen2 ring customers will get “early access” (no idea what this means), 50€ discount, and a free lifetime Oura membership. To get these benefits, you must order the new ring within next 14 days through the link in the in-app pop-up message or related email you should’ve got from Oura. I didn’t receive that email, but apparently it should’ve been sent to all existing customers.
EDIT 1: There seems to be more than one type of offer for existing customers. A friend who bought Gen2
ring recently, got 100€ discount instead of 50€ discount offer. Rest of the offer is the same as the one I got.
Also, instead of receiving the “personalized offer” email, some have received an email saying that their personalized offer email is coming within the next 48 hours. So, an email about an upcoming email…Â And I haven’t received either one those.
EDIT 2: I’ve added a discount code to the blog’s side banner.
There’s still A LOT of questions up in the air for which Oura hasn’t provided official FAQ yet. EDIT 3: There’s now an official Oura Membership FAQ. Here’s the original FAQ I had put together from their social media comments:
Continue reading “Oura Ring Gen3 Upgrade Offer FAQ (and Launch PR Fail)”
Continuing my seemingly never-ending quest of digging through privacy policies, this time I analyzed how the most popular wearables companies handle their customers’ data. Fitbit, Biostrap, Motiv, Oura and Whoop all are on the cutting edge of health technology, but are their privacy practices on par with that or not?
A fellow biohacker Alex Fergus provided me with the opportunity to publish my little research article on his website. Over the years he has published tons of information on fitness, sleep and – of course – health gadgets. Few days ago he published the most comprehensive red light panel comparison I’ve ever seen, analyzing everything from EMF levels to irradiance and LED flicker. Let’s just say he knows his stuff, so I’m excited to try to match his professionalism on that space with mine about privacy.
I believe it’s time for the biohacker community to start valuing their data more. In my guest blog post you’ll learn:
So head over to alexfergus.com and learn everything you need to know about wearables and privacy!
Slowly, but surely I’ve been improving my work environment both at the office as well as at home. If I’m going to spend one quarter of the week in front of a screen earning paycheck, it makes sense to optimize not just the productivity, but perhaps most importantly the external factors that impact my health in the long run. Last year’s back surgery – albeit only a minor operation – was a stark wake-up call for this.
Of course I have more freedom to optimize my work environment at home, so that’s what this article will focus on. Without further ado, here’s what I’ve done so far to upgrade my home office.
Ever since I saw Sky Cowan’s video of Bulletproof Labs, I’ve been thinking how cool it would be to work out in a facility like that. While searching for places to get cryotherapy treatments in Greater Helsinki area, I stumbled upon Bodypioneer‘s site and it quickly became apparent that this might be the closest thing to Bulletproof Labs I could get around here.
Bodypioneer is an importer of workout and recovery equipment first, and an “upgraded gym” second. Essentially, they have a showroom in which you can book workout sessions for the different equipment that they’re importing. And they’re not just any old crossfit gadgets, but machines utilizing different forms of photobiomodulation, vacuum pressure, infrared heating, and so on. After few emails back and forth, I decided to go for an Infrashape bike session first.
Continue reading “My First Visit to Bodypioneer and an Infrashape Bike Workout”
Around 2017-2018 I noticed that many – if not most – of the podcasts I listen to published an episode about red light devices. Red and near-infrared (NIR) low-level light therapy (LLLT) or as it’s perhaps more commonly known, photobiomodulation, took the biohacking world by storm. Although the research and tech wasn’t new by any means, multiple companies in this field appeared around the same time, which seemingly popularized the topic.
After a long time of conducting my own research into the science and benefits of red light photobiomodulation, I finally decided to pull the trigger late 2018. I ended up choosing a device which I think provided a good compromise between price, wavelengths and the power of the unit. After over half a year of experience with the panel, this is my review of the Half Stack red light by Red Light Rising.
Continue reading “Red Light Review: The Half Stack by Red Light Rising”
Earlier this year my employer provided us with the opportunity to do a three-day Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment. This provided me a chance to do three days of “double self-quantification”, and compare the results of the much hyped Firstbeat to my daily driver, the Oura ring.
Firstbeat Bodyguard 2 measures your body’s signals 24/7, whereas Oura ring does most of it’s tracking during your sleep. Both of the wearables focus heavily on HRV (links to Oura’s and Firstbeat’s HRV info pages), but when it comes to sleep, there’s a lot more to look at.
Continue reading “Firstbeat vs Oura Results Comparison – Part 2: Sleep”
Earlier this year my employer provided us with the opportunity to do a three-day Firstbeat Lifestyle Assessment. This provided me a chance to do three days of “double self-quantification”, and compare the results of the much hyped Firstbeat to my daily driver, the Oura ring. I’m not going to explain how these devices or the Firstbeat service itself works, but let’s just say they both heavily focus on Heart Rate Variability (learn more from Oura’s and Firstbeat’s HRV info pages).
These devices are known for sleep and recovery tracking, but they also measure the wearer’s activity throughout the day. This first part of the comparison focuses on that: Firstbeat’s and Oura’s activity analysis differ quite a lot in the ways they capture your activity and what markers they use when doing so.
Continue reading “Firstbeat vs Oura Results Comparison – Part 1: Activity”
Joel Latto 