Do you remember the most stressful day you had this year? Your Oura ring does.
The health tracker company also knows which days were collectively the most stressful for Americans as a whole — and the results are surprising.
Sharing anonymous aggregated data exclusively with The Post, Oura has revealed the top 20 most stressful days from from July 1 last year to June 20 for both US users and New Yorkers.
And while some of the dates may seem random at first glance, a few key events may have had a noticeable impact.
More than five million people pay for an Oura membership, enlisting the smart ring for insights into their sleep, fitness and, yes, stress.
But it’s important to note that Oura is no mood ring: It measures physiological stress through metrics like heart rate, heart rate variability (variation in time between heart beats) and body temperature.
So when it’s showing a day as stressful, that means your body is stressed — which is why both upsetting and exciting things can register.
“Oura is measuring activation in the body, not whether an experience feels good or bad,” Shyamal Patel, Oura’s SVP of science, said. “In other words, excitement and stress are not opposites from the body’s perspective; they can overlap.”
So… which was the most stressful day of the year?
Over the last 12 months, the most stressful day for both New Yorkers and the country as a whole was May 16.
At least in New York, this might be explained in part by the Long Island Rail Road strike, which started that day.
Without the LIRR, some New Yorkers had to shell out hundreds to pay for taxis, while others had to deal with hours added onto their commute. As many as 300,000 people were affected.
But something else was happening. It was gorgeous out — comfortably warm with a breeze and sun — a perfect late spring day. It’s possible people wearing Oura rings were out and about, socializing, drinking and staying out late, which can all register in the ring as stress.
“Physiological stress can come from many different sources,” Patel said. “It can also show up from things like poor sleep, illness, alcohol, dehydration, hormonal changes, caffeine, social interactions, travel or other disruptions that push the body away from its usual baseline.”
High stress numbers may have been driven up the classic way we put physical stress on our bodies, at least in New York. May 16 was the RBC Brooklyn Half, a half marathon organized by New York Road Runners (NYRR).
But why would the same day register across the US? Major headlines from that day include an ice cream recall and a new moth species named after the Pope — not exactly the stuff that might drive up the national heart rate.
Patel notes that it’s possible New Yorkers (over 8.5 million of us in the city) may be tipping the scale.
“New York’s reading that day was noticeably higher than the national figure — about 8 more stressed minutes, 3+ points higher on the ‘percent of day’ metric,” he said. “That’s consistent with a real local spike that then also shows up in the national number.”
New York’s other peak stress days
The LIRR strike might have been so stressful for New Yorkers, the second day of the strike (May 17) also registered in the top five most stressful days. The strike ended by the 18th.
Two of the the top 10 most stressful days this year for New Yorkers aligned with NBA Finals games. The second most stressful day was Game 5, when the Knicks beat the Spurs and took their first championship in 53 years.
“When something is emotionally positive but physically intense, stimulating, or sleep-disrupting, it can absolutely show up as stress,” Patel said.
New Year’s Eve was No. 3 on the list. An estimated 1 million people were in Times Square alone to watch the ball drop.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani was also sworn in just after midnight.
The most stressful days for all Americans this year
Patel says “it’s interesting” so many holidays and celebration days are at the very top of the list for most stressful. Three of the top five most stressful days for American Oura ring users were major holidays.
“That reinforces the idea that high-stimulation days can be physiologically stressful even when they are positive or social.”
No. 6 coincided with the last NBA Finals game. More than 24.5 million people around the country tuned in.
Also of note: Most of the top 20 (75%) of the most stressful days in America were Saturdays. None fell on a Monday, which are typically associated with stress.
“That’s a great example of the difference between perceived stress and physiological stress,” Patel said. “Mondays may feel psychologically stressful, but the biggest physiological stress days may be the ones tied to disrupted routines.”
Even if the day feels fun or relaxing, weekends often disrupt routine with spikes in socializing, traveling, drinking and less sleep, he added.
One other big takeaway was how much time we’re spending stressed out. “On the top US day, the average member logged 184.3 stressed minutes, or 45.46% of the day,” he said. “That’s a large portion of someone’s day to spend stressed out.”
Rather than thinking of conventionally stressful days, like Mondays, the data helps us understand that it’s disrupted routine and stimulation that puts our bodies under strain — and that includes joyful times too.
