I’ve never been one for health trackers. As someone who lives life at a frenetic pace and wrestles with insomnia, waking at 2 am only to lie there until 5 am replaying tomorrow’s to-do list, I’ve always avoided anything that confirms what I already know: I’m not sleeping enough. My husband, by contrast, monitors his life with the precision of a NASA engineer. He tracks his sleep, workouts, glucose levels, and even his snoring. Since this recent monitoring app was introduced, it presents me with ‘conclusive evidence’ each morning that “the snoring wasn’t that bad last night,” despite my sleepless glare suggesting otherwise.

So when asked to trial their new Ultrahuman Ring AIR, I hesitated. The last thing I wanted was a device telling me how badly I was failing at rest. But as I’ve begun taking a deeper interest in understanding my own biology, I realised that perhaps data could do what discipline hadn’t: help me make sense of my body, rather than fight against it.

The Ultrahuman Ring AIR looks and feels nothing like the typical clunky wearable. Mine, in platinum, sits flush against my finger, feather-light at just 2.4 grams, and surprisingly elegant. It looks more like jewellery than a fitness gadget and is comfortable enough to wear all day and night, which is ideal because that’s the point. It works best when you barely notice it.

“It’s like having a calm, slightly smug wellness coach on your finger, but one that actually knows what it’s talking about.”

Once synced with the app, the ring quietly logs almost every physiological detail imaginable: heart rate variability, body temperature, stress levels, recovery metrics, activity, even caffeine timing and menstrual cycles. The sleep tracking, however, is its most impressive feature. Each morning, it assigns a Sleep Score, then breaks it down into granular metrics such as efficiency, consistency, heart-rate drop, temperature variation, and even how well my brain’s glymphatic system — the network that clears toxins while we sleep — has done its nightly work.

Unlike other devices, Ultrahuman offers Powerplugs, optional add-ons that enrich the data. I’ve added Vitamin D monitoring, a must for someone who spends too much time indoors, along with menstrual tracking, caffeine optimisation, and a screentime plug-in that politely reminds me that scrolling before bed isn’t rest. It’s a modular approach to health that evolves as science advances, clever, practical, and refreshingly forward-thinking.

What I love most is its focus on circadian alignment. The app provides daily, science-backed suggestions for syncing my internal clock, including reminders to step outside in the morning light, cues to reduce caffeine intake, and gentle prompts to wind down for the night. It’s like having a calm, slightly smug wellness coach on your finger, but one that actually knows what it’s talking about.

After a few weeks, I found myself making minor, conscious adjustments. Going to bed just 30 minutes earlier. Cutting coffee by mid-afternoon. Taking five minutes to breathe when my stress markers spiked. These aren’t dramatic changes, but cumulatively, they’ve shifted how I feel. My sleep still isn’t perfect, but I understand why, and that’s oddly comforting. It’s no longer a mystery, just data I can act on.

Battery life is five days, and charging takes under an hour. The app requires no subscription. You pay once, and you own your insights. At around NZD $650, it’s an investment, but a one-time one. And for the visibility it offers, the insight into what’s really driving your energy, mood and recovery, it feels worth every dollar. For the first time, I’m not just reacting to fatigue, I’m learning from it.

It’s not about perfection or performance. It’s about awareness, understanding the rhythms that make you who you are. The Ultrahuman Ring AIR isn’t just another gadget; it’s a mirror that reflects how your body moves through modern life. And in a world that constantly demands more of us, that kind of understanding feels like a kind of self-love and respect for our own biology that we could all benefit from.

Shop the Ultrahuman Ring AIR here.