Can sleep trackers help to improve your sleep? An Oura experiment

could a sleep tracker be a shortcut to better sleep?

When journalist, Ed Cooper, approached me for help with his sleep, he described himself as poor sleeper - he wasn't sure he'd ever slept well. His challenge was to follow my 'expert' advice, and to use an Oura ring to track whether changing his daily habits would transform his sleep.

I can't write as eloquently as Ed, and I strongly recommend that you read the full article here in TechRadar... (Spoiler alert - it worked).

What struck me most was not his change of behaviours, or even the change in sleep patterns, but his change in attitude and confidence.

Why did ed want to change his Sleep?

"On the rare occasion I’ve slept well, I genuinely feel like I can achieve anything," said Ed, "but on the more frequent days I’ve underslept, feelings of dread, anxiety and poor mental health abound."

These words will resonate with those who have felt to poor effects of a bad night's sleep.

When poor sleep becomes normalised, it can feel inevitable. The more tired you become, the less likely you are to wake up with optimism that it's possible for things to change.

Across a four-week experiment, Ed worked with me to identify the elements of sleep he was struggling with and why. He added various strategies — ranging from simple behavioral changes to cognitive games — to his new "sleep arsenal." The emphasis on skill building shows us that good sleep doesn't just have to be something that happens; it's something we can train.

BETTER SLEEP STARTS IN THE MORNING

Ed learned that better sleep doesn't just begin at bedtime. It starts as soon as you wake up. "Interestingly, our experiment began by identifying my habits at the start of the day—rather than at the end. More specifically: what time I’m getting up, and understanding how to use the stress hormone cortisol to my advantage."

"“Waking up at the same time every day helps maintain a regular rhythm,” I explained. “When you have a regular rhythm, you get a surge of cortisol in the morning that helps you get out of bed.” This “vital morning surge of cortisol,” is instrumental in that get-up-and-go feeling that Ed often lacked after a poor night of sleep.

The experiment took place during winter, when darkness dominated up to 60–70% of the day. That made daylight exposure, especially early in the day, a priority, while evenings became about gently reducing stimulation.

Ed shared the practical and achievable techniques that he adopted to allow for more healthy habits. "I toggled my iPhone’s colour to black and white (long tap on the home screen > edit > customise) to make the apps’ colour schemes less appealing, and use f.lux on my laptop, a software that made my computer screen a warmer, amber colour, while I worked."

So what happened? Can sleep trackers help to improve your sleep?

"After a week or so of cementing these habits into my daily routine, things began to click into place."

Ed began to approach other habits and situations with a fork in the road mentality: whatever he was doing, he reasoned that it would either help him aid his mission to better sleep, or hinder it. This mentality allowed him to successfully make choices to protect sleep throughout the day.

The Sleep Tracking resultS

The numbers from his wearable tracker showed an important measurable change. "My REM sleep increased by 40 minutes on average, and greater stints of deep sleep — 90 minutes or over — became far more frequent. The effects of an improved REM sleep pattern left me re-energised in mind and body."

I would suggest that the most meaningful shift did not need a sleep tracker.

"The difference, after four weeks with Dr Bostock, is that setbacks no longer feel like a permanent biological flaw, but a temporary glitch — one I now know how to course-correct with a few behavioural adjustments". This re-framing is incredibly powerful.

"By the end, I’d realised that better sleep isn’t about hitting a single, ideal metric, but about showing up consistently and using data to keep yourself honest."

Better sleep doesn't need to be perfect sleep

I hugely enjoyed Ed's article. He started to treat sleep 'training' like physical training: “It's all the same things, discipline and consistency—that's it.”

I'd argue that Ed didn't really need a sleep expert, or necessarily a sleep tracker - but he did need determination and consistency, and it was great to be a part of that journey.