The Oura App contains several sleep graphs, including a Body Clock, to help you visualize your sleep patterns and behaviors. You can use these to establish healthier sleeping habits, or to gain an understanding of when your mind and body are at their peak and low points of the day.
Body Clock and chronotype are available for:
- Gen2
- Gen3 or later with active membership
- iOS
- Android
What Is the Body Clock?
What Is the Chronotype?
How to Use the Body Clock
How to Use the Chronotype
Things to Keep in Mind
More Information
What Is the Body Clock?
The Body Clock graph displays a 24-hour clock face with color-coded sections to compare your optimal sleep window to your current sleep patterns. Your optimal sleep window is based on your chronotype — the biological baseline or circadian rhythm that determines when you are at your most active and alert.
How Is Body Clock Different from Bedtime Guidance?
Bedtime guidance is based on your past wake-up times. The Oura App takes your recent wake-up times and, based on your best Sleep Scores, sets a recommended bedtime intended to help you get an optimal amount of sleep before your projected next wake-up time.
The easiest way to think of these two features is that your Body Clock and chronotype are aspirational guidelines for your ideal sleep times based on your circadian rhythm. Bedtime guidance is a suggested bedtime to get the most amount of sleep available based on your recent sleep patterns.
What Is the Chronotype?
"Chronotype" is another way of saying if you're a morning person, a night person, or somewhere in between. Oura divides chronotypes into six types:
How the Chronotype Is Calculated
Oura takes your data from the past 90 days and looks for at least 30 periods of long sleep (more than three hours). The app uses activity, average body temperature, and sleep patterns from this time period to estimate your chronotype. It can take anywhere from 40 to 90 days before your chronotype appears in the app.
Naps are not included in your chronotype calculation.
How to Use the Body Clock
Your Body Clock card will tell you how closely your sleep rhythm's midpoint from the night before was aligned to the midpoint of an optimal sleep window, as determined by your chronotype. If necessary, the Body Clock will provide guidance on how much to adjust your sleep timing in order to align with your circadian rhythm.
The Body Clock card can be found by tapping on the sleep shortcut at the top of the Today tab, then scrolling down.
Tap the Body Clock card to open a more detailed version.
The outer ring of the clockface indicates your sleep schedule from the night before. The inner ring is your optimal sleep schedule based on your chronotype. You can use the Body Clock to see at a glance how closely the two schedules are aligned.
Tap the info ⓘ icon in the upper-right corner of the app for more information on circadian rhythms. Tap the chronotype description at the bottom of the Body Clock screen for more information on your specific chronotype.
How to Use the Chronotype
You can find your chronotype by:
- Tapping the Sleep shortcut in the Today Tab, then tapping the Body Clock card, or
- Tapping the My Health tab, then scrolling to the bottom of the screen
Morning types benefit from waking up early and undertaking physical or mental tasks during the first half of the day. Evening types prefer to sleep in, and feel more alert and creative during the late hours of the day.
Can Chronotype Change?
Your chronotype can adapt as your life changes, but shifts are usually gradual. As people age, their chronotype often becomes earlier. Daily routines, work schedules, or family responsibilities can also influence your natural sleep-wake rhythm.
If the Oura App calculates a new chronotype based on changes in your sleep timing, sleep activity, and average body temperature, you'll see a chronotype change card on the Today tab. Tap the card for more information on the changes.
Read more at the Pulse Blog: What Is Your Chronotype & Why Does It Matter?
Things to Keep in Mind
The following conditions must be met for Body Clock and chronotype data to appear:
- The Oura App requires data from at least 30 long sleep periods (at least three hours) within the past 90 days, and at least 30 days of physical activity and temperature data in order to calculate your chronotype
- The ring should be worn properly (a tight enough fit, with sensors on the palm side of your finger) to ensure complete data gathering
- Travel to a time zone more than one hour in difference will interfere with data collection
- Ensure that your ring and the Oura App have synced at least once a week
- The ring must be worn consistently during the day and night because daytime readings also contribute to chronotype calculation
- Frequently removing your ring for extended periods of time can interfere with data collection
