OK, it’s not a World Series ring, but the Seattle Mariners are taking strides to improve performance through technology by adding a new piece of equipment to their arsenal. The team is the first in Major League Baseball to partner with Oura Health and use the company’s smart Oura Rings to help players and staff get personalized insights on sleep and overall health.
The rings provide biometric data on sleep, activity and recovery habits by measuring key physiological signals such as temperature, heart rate, heart rate variability and respiratory rate. The data, delivered through the Oura app, feeds into a daily Sleep Score and Readiness Score to allow users to better determine how their body is recovering.
The Mariners say the metrics will help players analyze the impact of their sleep and training regimen on the body’s ability to perform at its best.
“We believe that the restorative value of sleep is critical to a championship model,” Mariners Executive VP and GM Jerry Dipoto said in a news release.
And Mariners Head Athletic Trainer Kyle Torgerson said the rings help users optimize sleep and minimize brain fog as players “feel the grind of the travel schedule and playing games nearly every day.”
Oura works as an official health-tracking parter with the UFC as well as the NBA, WNBA and NASCAR. And the company is involved in research to determine whether the rings help to detect symptoms and early signs of illness, such as COVID-19.
The San Francisco-based startup has raised $47 million to date. After a $28 million funding round in March, the company said it had sold more than 150,000 rings since launching in early 2018.
