As leading global wellness brands, both Oura and Headspace believe that caring for your mind is a non-negotiable component of caring for your overall health.
Recently, Oura has introduced Daytime Stress and Resilience features, designed to help members understand how their bodies handle and recover from physiological stress. As a key part of this feature set, Oura members can now access Headspace audio sessions in the Oura App, including guided breathwork exercises, meditations, sleepcasts, and relaxing visualizations.
Led by mindfulness experts including Andy Puddicombe, co-founder of Headspace, Dora Kamau, and Kessonga Giscombe, each session was designed for an intended purpose — whether it’s to settle your mind, relax your body, or unwind for sleep.
Plus, there’s no need to be a master at meditation or breathwork to manage your stress. With a mission to revolutionize mental health for humanity, Headspace’s beginner-friendly content makes practicing mindfulness accessible and actionable.
Practice Mindfulness to Reduce Stress & Improve Sleep
The research is definitive: Mindfulness practices, such as meditation, breathwork, and guided visualization, have impressive benefits for your mental and physical health. For example:
- Multiple studies have shown that breathing exercises are highly effective for reducing stress and restoring overall wellness.
- Meditation and breathing exercises can help activate the body’s relaxation response, reducing the production of stress hormones like cortisol. In fact, as little as five minutes of deep breathing has been shown to lower stress and boost your mood.
- Visualization practices have been shown to help you fall asleep fast.
- Adding mindfulness practices to your bedtime routine signals to your body that it’s time to wind down and prepare for sleep.
- If negative thoughts are keeping you up at night, practicing mindfulness can help you observe thoughts without becoming preoccupied by them, making it easier to let go and relax.
Headspace and Oura are excited to partner to make it easier than ever for members to reap these science-backed benefits.
LEARN MORE: How Meditation Helps You Sleep Better
Listen to Headspace Audio Sessions in the Oura App
To wind down with your first Headspace experience, simply go on to the Oura App. Access Explore content by visiting the (☰) menu in the upper left-hand corner of the Home screen on the Oura App (Gen3 members) or the Explore tab from the bottom right (Gen2 members).
You can select the type of meditation or mindfulness exercise that speaks to you in the moment — whether that’s a short breathing practice, a walking meditation, or soothing bedtime story.
Additionally, Oura’s Daytime Stress feature will suggest specific meditations to help you relax if you experience peaks of stress during your day.
After listening to any audio session in Explore, you’ll receive immediate biofeedback, including body temperature trends, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability, so you see how your body is responding in real-time.
READ MORE: How Stress Affects Your Sleep