How I learned to stop worrying and love my health tracker

Take a scroll on your favorite news site, and you might believe that a health tracker, like an Apple Watch or Oura Ring, is a paranoia-inducing and life-ruining device that causes more harm than good to its owners. 

A few weeks ago, The New York Times published a story documenting the anxiety some users experience after wearing an Oura Ring. Earlier this week, Vox’s senior tech correspondent, Adam Clark Estes, wrote about how his quest to monitor every aspect of his health stressed him out. 

Also: I took these four sleep trackers to bed. Here’s which one I recommend most

He wrote: “In the six months I spent hooked up to every health tracker I could find, feeding my morbid curiosity, I drove myself slightly crazy.”

Whenever a new technology emerges, skepticism ensues. How critical should we be of these health trackers that get a front-row view of our habits? And are we ready to confront our behaviors when we purchase one of these devices? 

As a health and wearables editor, I’ve spent over a year tracking my health with various smart rings, sleep apps, continuous glucose monitors, and smartwatches. Despite unlimited access to my health data, I have developed a disciplined yet forgiving approach to my health, sleep, exercise, and diet. 

The argument against these wearables and the anxiety-inducing emotions they stir up is based on several factors: a failure to recognize the target demographic for wearables, a ‘doomer’ approach to emerging technology, and a general inability to take the data as a suggestion instead of gospel. 

Also: Your next Apple Watch or smart ring could have a feature that transforms healthcare

In the beginning, this data and the novel scores I would receive would stress me out if they weren’t in the high 80s or 90s. At one point I got a 70 Oura readiness score and wondered whether I should cancel plans to stay home. But as I tested more and more wearables, I became less afraid of these poor scores. Here’s how I learned how to take them as suggestions that inform my day instead of final determinations on my health.

Who should and shouldn’t buy a wearable? 

The Times story primarily focused on the experiences of younger women who compulsively check their health metrics and scores, or change their behavior to achieve better scores. One source, who told The Times she was poorly managing her obsessive behavior, was checking her heart rate data “24/7.”  

In my opinion, The Times story is more an illustration of health anxiety’s prevalence in younger women than it is a condemnation of wearable technology writ large. 

Also: I tested smart glasses with built-in hearing aids for a week, and didn’t want to take them off

Health anxiety might have gotten a boost during and after COVID, but its existence dates back to the Middle Ages when some royals and noblemen were convinced their bodies were made of glass. Even King Charles VI experienced this “glass delusion,” as it was called at the time. 

“To keep himself from ‘shattering,’ Charles would stay motionless for hours, wrapped in piles of thick blankets. When he did have to move, he did so in a special garment, which included iron ribs to protect his glass organs,” explained History’s Hadley Meares. 

Hypochondria or health anxiety evolves with scientific knowledge, as Time’s Caroline Crampton wrote. We’re living in a time of instant and constant health data quantification and delivery. These devices are advancing rapidly, and it doesn’t take much (although it might cost $300) for a user to become obsessed with the 24/7 data stream of results. 

Also: The best smart rings of 2025: I tested and found an obvious winner

Do health wearables like the Oura Ring exacerbate these anxieties and tendencies? They can. Should young women with such conditions use these trackers? Probably not. But that doesn’t make these devices useless. Using a scale can be harmful to someone with an eating disorder, but that hasn’t stopped scales from being used in most doctors’ offices.

Whether you’re buying a health tracker for yourself or a loved one, consider whether the data it displays will be additive or subtractive to mental well-being. There is the challenge that some people may be unaware of their obsessive health data-tracking tendencies until after they’ve purchased the device. In that case, I’d remind you that these devices reward consistent sleep and activity behavior with high scores, so bear that in mind upon purchasing. 

A parent of young children, a student or employee working into the wee hours of the night, or someone who battles nighttime distractions might be more likely to receive poorer sleep scores. Couple that output with minimal activity and an inconsistent bedtime, and readiness and activity scores may also falter. 

Also: These sleep headphones helped me catch up on lost sleep – and fall asleep fast

On the other hand, these devices can help spotlight these patterns and encourage more consistent sleep and exercise. In my experience, they’ve helped me develop a healthy and consistent nighttime routine and reminded me of the repercussions of staying up late, drinking alcohol, or long bouts of inactivity.

If your health data, both the good and the bad, won’t stress you out, and you still want to track your vitals throughout the night and day, I’d recommend a health tracker. However, I’d advise against purchasing these devices if you have OCD or preexisting health anxiety. 

On the brand’s end, technology companies behind health apps should limit how often users can check their health data each day or include messaging on the app about health anxiety or disordered health tracking to promote education on the topic. 

The sky isn’t falling 

Despite the negative sentiment these devices receive from skeptics, health wearables have the potential to identify early signs of strain, wave a red flag on chronic conditions, and provide data that doctors can use to evaluate medical issues. 

I have written that these devices, when used appropriately, can be physiological crystal balls, alerting users to illness several days before they detect symptoms themselves. During the pandemic, emergency medical workers wore the Oura Ring to monitor and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals. In a November interview, Oura’s Shyamal Patel recounted a story of the smart ring sensing strain after his resting heart rate elevated above his average. He called his physician, who told him that his heart rate of 63 BPM was healthy for his age. However, several days later, Patel developed an infection and underwent emergency dental surgery. 

Also: My favorite XR glasses for traveling got 3 major upgrades – and a big discount

One Oura user said that the ring helped them receive an autoimmune disease diagnosis. “I know it’s fun to track your sleep and activity, but my Oura Ring has seriously helped me through this challenging period of my life. It helped me get diagnosed (my doctor took the data seriously) and made me more in tune with my body,” they wrote in a Reddit post. 

Several stories on r/AppleWatch recount how these devices have notified wearers about possible atrial fibrillation and suggested a visit to the hospital, effectively saving their lives. These life-saving technological capabilities are not uncommon. 

At their most benign, wearables can alert you a few days before you catch a cold. At their most powerful, they could save you from a heart attack. (However, they can also miss signs of illness, so they should not be relied on alone for health monitoring.) 

In the Vox article, Estes and Gary Wolf, founder of Quantified Self, claim that despite tracking metrics, these devices don’t foment actionable behavior changes or lessons learned. I disagree. After logging my meals and monitoring my glucose with a continuous glucose monitor, I became aware of the connection between consuming white rice for lunch and immediately wanting to fall asleep shortly after. Now I avoid it during lunchtime and my focus has improved. After wearing a smart ring for a year, its nudges to go to bed early and positive reinforcement for a regular bedtime allowed me to build and enjoy a sleep routine where I wake up without an alarm almost every day around 6 a.m. I know to avoid eating later or drinking alcohol because I can see how late my heart rate drops while sleeping after a big nighttime meal or several beers.

Your health data isn’t the whole truth 

I’ve tested several smartwatches, smart rings, and continuous glucose monitors throughout my time as a wearables editor. I go to bed with several smart rings on my fingers and receive varying sleep and readiness scores in the morning. Take it from me: these devices will give you different scores, and their algorithms will spit out high scores for one device and lower scores for another — using the same data set. There is no universal or objective truth to these scoring mechanisms.  

So, what does that outcome mean for you? You should stop taking the scores you’re receiving so seriously. 

Also: I replaced my Oura 4 with this subscription-less smart ring, and it did some things better

Of course, it’s important to pay attention to your body and seek medical guidance if your wearable is notifying you of an irregular heart rate or significant strain, or if you’re feeling sick. But as far as sleep, activity, and readiness scores go, they will differ with each wearable’s algorithm, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up (or fundamentally change your behaviors) based on a few poor scores. 

At the end of the day, you know how your body feels. This technology, while deeply impressive and advanced, is still imperfect. You know when you are tired or getting sick, or when you are focused and well-rested. These devices may reinforce such feelings with a score or data to back them up, but you are the one taking yourself to a doctor when sick or pushing yourself to that final mile when at your peak. 

Even with the health and fitness advice these devices offer, they aren’t and will never be medical professionals. These wearables should never have the last word or final say on your health. 

Get the morning’s top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.