Watches, Rings and Measurable Resilience Ratings

For years, therapy relied almost entirely on subjective reports—what clients feel, remember, notice, and report. Now, wearable technology—like stylish rings and watches—offers a new way to enhance client insight into their emotional and physiological states.

Devices such as the Oura Ring, Garmin watches, and Apple Watches are no longer just tracking steps or sleep. They’re offering real-time reflections of stress, recovery, and resilience—data points that increasingly mirror what clients are experiencing emotionally and physiologically.

As a therapist, I’m noticing clients’ lived experiences are showing up on their devices with surprising accuracy.

Clients often come into session describing a stressful family gathering, ongoing relational conflict, work pressure, or a rough week of sleep—which their devices often reflect in real time.“My stress score spiked after that family party.” “My sleep was nonexistent the night after that argument.” “My HRV (heart rate variability) has been low all week” – a measure of how well the nervous system is handling stress and recovery.

These comments are often said casually—but they carry real information that can help clients feel truly understood and validated in therapy.

What’s compelling isn’t that the technology is diagnosing mental health. It’s that it’s reflecting nervous system states that closely align with what we already understand through trauma-informed therapy and nervous system science.

When someone is overwhelmed, underslept, emotionally flooded, or operating outside their window of tolerance, the body knows first. These devices are simply translating that physiological language into numbers, charts, and trends.

A Quick (and Important) Clarifier

To be clear: I don’t interpret wearable data diagnostically or clinically. I don’t treat numbers—I treat people.

I also don’t personally wear a device—yet. But when the Oura Ring goes on sale, I’ll be ready. Preferably the gold one. It matches my aesthetic, in case you were wondering.

That said, as mental health professionals, we can no longer ignore the presence or impact of this technology. Clients are already integrating it into how they understand themselves, and wearables can offer a valuable bridge between subjective experience and physiological awareness.

The data doesn’t replace therapy but serves as a supplementary tool to enhance understanding of clients' physiological responses and resilience.

The Oura Ring and Resilience

One of the most interesting developments in wearable technology and mental health is how the Oura Ring frames resilience.

The Oura Ring measures resilience across five levels—Exceptional, Strong, Solid, Adequate, and Limited—by evaluating how well someone balances stress and recovery over 14 days. This assessment draws from metrics such as:

• Daytime stress

• Sleep quality and consistency

• Activity and recovery patterns

In simple terms, it reflects how well the nervous system withstands physiological stress and returns to baseline.

While not a mental health measure, the overlap with trauma-informed concepts and nervous system regulation makes wearable data particularly relevant for our work.

Therapy, EMDR, and Changes in the Body

What’s really caught my attention is how changes in therapy sometimes show up in wearable data, too.

For example, I worked with someone whose Oura Ring consistently showed a “Limited” resilience score. At the same time, she was feeling overwhelmed, easily stressed, and emotionally reactive in her day-to-day life.

As she continued with EMDR therapy—working through difficult experiences and learning to feel safer and more grounded—things began to change. Gradually, she felt less distressed, more emotionally steady, and better able to handle stress as it arose.

Interestingly, without changing her wearable data, her Oura resilience score also slowly improved. Over time, it shifted from “Limited” to “Exceptional,” which can inspire clients to see their capacity for growth.

As much as I would like to take the credit, this does not mean therapy caused the change in the data. Correlation is not causation. But the parallel is challenging to ignore.

What therapy was addressing internally—processing trauma, restoring regulation, increasing capacity—was also being reflected externally through patterns of stress and recovery in the body.

Why This Matters for Mental Health Professionals

Wearables are not therapists.

AI is not attunement.

Data is not a relationship.

And yet, these tools are shaping how clients understand themselves, empowering them with concrete validation and a sense of agency in their healing journey.

They offer information and actual “data”—concrete validation of invisible stress. 

And yes, this is exactly what trauma therapists are always trying to bring the body in the room. Where do you feel that in your body? (I know, I’m a broken record.)

When a client reports low scores, it opens the door for psychoeducation around sleep, recovery, and regulation tools. 

I say it as a therapist witnessing my client’s and their reflections of their data points in real time. 

At its best, therapy helps people come home to their bodies. These devices, imperfect as they are, may offer another language for that same healing journey. It’s a space I remain curious about—and yes, I’m often the first to ask, “So… what was your score on your device this week?”

Unquantifiable (for now),

Mandy