How Apps and Wearables Can Help You Control Your Diabetes
I have always considered myself a somewhat healthy person, especially after abandoning smoking and vaping a few years ago. Unfortunately, it turned out to be incorrect.
Three years ago, I had an almost constant pain in my left arm. My father had heart problems many years ago, so my mother convinced me to take pain seriously and see my main doctor. A 30-minute meeting quickly intensified in a failed stress test, followed by a stent put in one of my heart arteries.
This incident revealed that I was type 2 diabetic, which was mainly attributed to overweight and smoking for many years. Since then, I have lost considerable weight thanks to the exercise and my continuous use of Mounjaro, a GLP-1 medication similar to Ozempic. I also do a better work to monitor my blood sugar and my overall health using two devices that include applications: Oura and Stelo. I can talk about the experience that this combination helped me understand what happens to my body every day. This is another way to manage diabetes.
Understand the lifestyle and well-being with a Oura ring
Ring Oura quickly became my favorite portable device when I was loaned a few years ago to write a criticism. Since then, I have upgraded each time a new ring has been released. The last one, the Oura 4, is most beautifully designed and the most comfortable to date. What makes the Oura Ring one of the most popular portable devices on the market is not the ring itself, but the support application.
- Brand
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Oura
- Heart frequency monitor
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Yes
The Oura Ring 4 is a complete tracker for more than 20 fitness measures, offers optimal suggestions of sleep time, night SPO2 monitoring, monitoring in terms of constraints, etc.
Available for Android and iPhone, the Oura app is the place where you access all the data that the ring collects. This includes everything, from your heart rate and your body temperature to your activity and sleep habits. In doing so, over time, you can get personalized ideas and recommendations to improve your long -term health.
The Oura application is full of features, and I admit that I don’t use it much, like its meditation tools. However, a feature that I use every day and that I highly recommend is the preparation score. The daily score, which varies from 0 to 100, measure to what extent your body recovered at the beginning of each day. This is based on various factors, including the way your heart has responded to certain events over time, your sleep habits, the activity of the day before and other factors. The higher the scoring, the more you are ready to complete your day.
Knowing your overall preparation score is less important than what enters there. My score is often lower on weekends, for example, because I tend to eat bigger dinners on Friday and Saturday evening. This reduces my recovery index, which is based on the time it took to reach my lowest heart rate the previous night. Earlier in time, the better, because it represents better recovery. Things like alcohol and the consumption of heavy meals near bedtime tend to delay the lower heart rate.
In addition, I use the Oura application to monitor my meals and their impact on my level of glucose. No, the ring cannot check your blood sugar. But, since earlier this year, I have been taking advantage of the relatively new integration between Oura and Stelo, a continuous glucose (OTC) system of continuous glucose (OTC) developed by Dexcom.
As similar products, such as the Dexcom G7 prescription, the Stelo Biocoverter monitors your blood sugar every 15 minutes and warns you when the number increases or decreases considerably. Knowing this information facilitates the identification of the factors that increase your blood sugar, allowing you to plan future meals and also determine the best time to eat.
It is also easier to follow how certain activities affect your blood sugar. When I do my dog for a walk, I generally see my blood sugar drop, sometimes very quickly, which is a concern.
The Stelo is roughly the size of an American district. It comes with an applicator that automatically inserts a thin filament sensor into your skin. It is painless and replaces the need to prick you to read your blood sugar. A Stelo lasts 15 days before he was replaced. Each over -the -counter device costs around $ 50.
The Stelo application, available for iOS and Android, follows your current and past blood sugar. It also includes a multitude of information on glucose and diabetes. You can also use the application to follow certain events, such as meals and activities.
How they work better together
As indicated above, the Oura application follows a multitude of information. Since the beginning of 2025, it can also automatically extract Stelo data. Combined, I now have a more in -depth overview of what happens to my body on a daily, weekly and even monthly basis.
The key here is to keep track of what I eat (and when) in addition to my fitness routines. Otherwise, Oura cannot get reading on the whole image.
To start using your Stelo information on the OURA application, you must configure integration. This implies connecting your URA account to the one you have for Stelo. This is a simple process that requires only a few simple steps. Once it is finished, Oura will start to enter your Stelo data.
On the Oura Glucose page, I can see what effects my meals have on my blood sugar. This information is superimposed on my daily movements, which Oura collects 24/7. When I add a meal or a snack to the Oura application, it does not take long to see that my blood sugar starts to climb on the graphic, which occurs whatever the food I eat.
This is completely normal, whether you are diabetic. What is important is to know how much blood sugar has increased after eating a meal. I often use this information to avoid certain foods, or at least reduce the quantity that I eat in one frame.
As the data is updated, Oura will provide advice and offer relevant advice. This advisor will also know how often for a day (in percentage), your blood sugar was beyond the optimal and what it means.
I have known for a long time, even without Stelo, what foods are bad for your blood sugar and which are not. Like everyone, I am not perfect, and sometimes I deliberately eat something that I know will cause my blood sugar. I do not give up the cheese cake and other goodies. But seeing the effects of my food consumption on an application and connecting it with everything that happens in my body every day has really helped to motivate me and keep me responsible. For this reason, my A1C is in the normal beach, and my family, the doctor and I are all delighted.
Finally, it should be noted that the use of stelo is not only practical, it is also eliminated one of the things that I hated the most to be diabetic. Near my finger several times during the day is boring, and sometimes it hurts. In addition, as all diabetics will tell you, the process means that there are many needles seated around the house that should be eliminated. Thanks to Stelo, these days are over, and I am grateful.
Having an Oura ring and continuing to use Stelo is not a cheap company. The ring itself costs at least $ 349, and there is also a subscription that will still cost you $ 6 per month. To benefit the most from our, you need this subscription. And finally, there are Stelo devices. Each over -the -counter device costs around $ 50, which corresponds to $ 1,200 per year.
For me, all of this is worth it. Before examining the Oura Plus Stelo combination, check if your insurance will cover a dexcom device only on prescription. If this is the case, great. Currently, you are unable to import your data into the Oura application with Dexcom, which deletes a certain convenience, but it is perhaps the best and profitable route for many people.
My health journey started when I experienced a heart incident unexpectedly and I received a diagnosis of diabetes. It has shown how our body can surprise us with health problems even when we feel good.
The combination of Oura Ring data with the information on the Stelo biocaptor provided me with a more in -depth understanding of what is happening in my body and an increased reader that has transformed all my existence. For that, I am grateful.
