NAVA Intelligent Health
Total Sleep
What it measures?
Total sleep reflects the number of hours you actually slept compared to your personalized sleep goal. It provides the most basic – yet most important – insight into your nightly recovery and serves as the foundation for interpreting all other sleep metrics.
What science says?
Sleep research consistently shows that most adults require 7–9 hours of sleep per night to maintain optimal physical and cognitive health (Hirshkowitz et al., 2015). Chronic sleep restriction has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, impaired immune function, reduced memory consolidation, slower reaction times, and greater susceptibility to metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA precisely detects your time of falling asleep and waking up using combined movement and cardiovascular signals. This allows us to present not just a single night’s data but long-term trends across weeks and months, helping you recognize whether you are consistently meeting your needs or compensating with irregular sleep patterns (e.g., “catching up” on weekends).
How to set your goal?
You can adjust your sleep goal directly in the app. For most users, starting with a goal of 8 hours is recommended. From there, fine-tune your target based on how refreshed and alert you feel during the day.
Practical tip: It’s not only about how many hours you sleep but also how consistently you sleep. Studies show that maintaining a stable circadian rhythm – going to bed and waking up at similar times – has profound effects on mood, performance, and long-term health, sometimes even more than the total number of hours slept.
Quality Sleep
What it measures?
Quality sleep goes beyond duration – it reflects how restorative your sleep truly is. This metric takes into account sleep fragmentation, restlessness, heart activity, and autonomic balance during the night.
What science says?
Research shows that uninterrupted, consolidated sleep is essential for physical recovery, learning, emotional regulation, and immune function. Even if you reach the recommended total hours, frequent awakenings or excessive tossing and turning reduce the proportion of truly restorative sleep. Studies suggest that high-quality sleep is strongly correlated with improved daytime energy, better reaction times, and long-term cardiovascular health.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA integrates data from movement sensors with cardiovascular signals, including heart rate variability and interbeat intervals, to provide a nuanced assessment of how deeply and efficiently you slept. This makes our measure of sleep quality more comprehensive than duration alone.
How your goal is defined?
Your quality sleep target is set as a percentage of your required sleep time. For most adults, achieving 70–80% of quality sleep relative to total sleep is a realistic initial goal. Over time, you can refine this percentage based on how well it matches your subjective experience of rest and recovery.
Practical tip: Learn to connect your quality sleep score with how you feel the next day. For example, a low score may explain morning grogginess or difficulty concentrating, even if you slept for 8 hours. By monitoring your patterns, you’ll discover which habits – such as reducing late-night screen use, avoiding heavy meals before bed, or practicing relaxation techniques – directly improve the quality of your rest.
Heart Rate Dip
What it measures?
Heart rate dip compares your average sleeping heart rate to your baseline heart rate during non-active, non-sleeping periods of the previous 24 hours. It shows how effectively your body shifts into a state of rest and recovery during sleep.
What science says?
A healthy “nocturnal dip” – typically 10% or more compared to daytime levels – is considered an important marker of cardiovascular health and sleep quality. Research has linked the absence of a dip to increased risk of hypertension, impaired autonomic function, and higher all-cause mortality. Conversely, excessive dips (20% or more) are often observed in highly trained athletes or individuals with unusually efficient cardiovascular recovery.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA continuously tracks heart rate throughout the day and night, allowing accurate calculation of your nightly dip. Unlike traditional devices, NAVA integrates this metric into deep sleep calculations, providing a more realistic view of how restorative your sleep is.
Individual differences
• Some people naturally show little or no dip. This may be influenced by medical conditions, pacemaker use, or lifestyle factors such as stress and late-night activity. In these cases, a lower dip may be normal for you.
• Others, particularly endurance athletes, may consistently show a very high dip (>20%). For them, NAVA adapts calculations to avoid underestimating sleep quality.
How to interpret your results?
• For most users, aiming for at least a 10% dip is recommended, with 15%+ considered an excellent sign of recovery.
• A flat or absent dip over multiple nights may be a signal to review lifestyle factors (alcohol, late exercise, stress), and in some cases may warrant medical consultation.
Practical tip: Because heart rate dip is influenced by both lifestyle and health status, focus on long-term trends rather than single-night fluctuations. Consistent improvements in dip usually reflect better sleep hygiene, lower stress, and improved cardiovascular conditioning.
Resting Heart Rate (RHR)
What it measures?
Resting Heart Rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute while you are at complete rest. During sleep, RHR provides one of the clearest indicators of how well your body is recovering from the physical and mental demands of the day.
What science says?
For healthy adults, a normal resting heart rate typically ranges between 40–100 beats per minute (bpm). Well-trained athletes often record values closer to 40 bpm, while most adults fall in the 60-80 bpm range. Research shows that lower RHR is generally associated with greater cardiovascular fitness, efficient autonomic function, and reduced risk of heart disease. Elevated RHR, especially when sustained over time, can reflect stress, overtraining, infection, or insufficient recovery.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA Ring establishes your personal RHR baseline over the first two weeks of use. Once this baseline is established, nightly deviations – either above or below your average – provide powerful insight into your recovery and readiness for the following day. A slightly lower-than-average RHR usually indicates good recovery and adaptation, while a higher-than-average RHR may signal fatigue, stress, or the body’s effort to cope with external strain.
What influences RHR at night?
Several lifestyle and physiological factors can raise your resting heart rate during sleep, including:
• Late or heavy meals that increase metabolic activity.
• Intense exercise close to bedtime.
• Elevated body temperature due to warm environments or illness.
• Emotional factors, such as stress, anxiety, or excitement.
• Alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine consumed in the evening.
Practical tip: Track how your habits affect your nightly RHR. For example, you may notice that avoiding late meals or scheduling workouts earlier in the day consistently lowers your RHR during sleep. Over time, aligning your lifestyle with your body’s natural recovery patterns can help stabilize your nightly RHR and improve your overall sleep quality.
Deep Sleep
What it measures?
Deep sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep (SWS or stage N3), is the most restorative phase of sleep. During this stage, your body undergoes critical physical repair processes, memory consolidation, and immune system strengthening.
What science says?
Studies show that adults typically spend 10–30% of their total sleep time in deep sleep – averaging 1.5 to 2 hours per night. This stage is essential for:
• Tissue growth and repair – muscle fibers recover, growth hormone is released, and cellular repair accelerates.
• Immune system support – research indicates that antibody production and immune cell activity are boosted during deep sleep.
• Brain detoxification – the glymphatic system becomes more active, clearing metabolic waste products such as beta-amyloid, which has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA tracks not only your sleep cycles but also integrates cardiovascular signals – such as heart rate dip, heart rate variability, and interbeat intervals (IBI) – to improve the accuracy of deep sleep detection. This allows for a more nuanced understanding of your restorative sleep than movement-based tracking alone.
Typical patterns
• Most deep sleep occurs in the first half of the night, with cycles gradually shortening as morning approaches.
• Insufficient deep sleep can leave you feeling unrefreshed, even if total sleep hours are adequate.
• Lifestyle factors such as alcohol, caffeine, irregular bedtimes, and high stress can significantly reduce deep sleep.
How your goal is defined?
Your deep sleep goal is automatically set as a percentage of your required sleep time. For most people, reaching at least 15-20% of the night in deep sleep is an excellent target.
Practical tip: To maximize deep sleep:
• Maintain a consistent sleep schedule, even on weekends.
• Avoid stimulants, alcohol, and heavy meals at least 2–3 hours before bed.
• Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.
• Incorporate light physical activity during the day, but avoid intense workouts right before bedtime.
Deep sleep is the stage that allows your body to reset, heal, and prepare for the next day. Monitoring and improving this metric is one of the most impactful steps you can take for long-term health and resilience.
REM Sleep
What it measures?
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is a unique stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, vivid dreaming, and heightened brain activity. It plays a central role in emotional regulation, memory consolidation, learning, and creativity.
What science says?
REM sleep typically accounts for 20-25% of total sleep time in healthy adults, though it can range from 5–50%. On average, adults require at least 90–120 minutes of REM sleep per night. As we age, the proportion of REM sleep tends to decline slightly.
Research shows that REM sleep is crucial for:
• Emotional health – it helps the brain process emotional experiences and reduces reactivity to stress.
• Cognitive performance – studies link REM sleep to problem-solving, creativity, and integration of new information.
• Physical health – REM influences autonomic nervous system balance, supporting cardiovascular and metabolic stability.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA combines motion detection with heart rate variability and respiratory signals to provide a more accurate assessment of REM sleep. Unlike simple trackers, NAVA integrates multiple physiological markers to distinguish REM from light and deep sleep.
Typical patterns
• REM sleep is regulated by circadian rhythms and typically occurs in cycles throughout the night, becoming longer and more frequent in the second half of the night.
• Short or fragmented sleep often reduces REM disproportionately, leading to impaired memory and mood disturbances.
• Daytime naps can also include REM, especially when they last longer than 60 minutes.
How your goal is defined?
Your REM goal is expressed as a percentage of your nightly sleep. For most adults, 20-25% is a healthy benchmark. Lower values may be normal for some individuals, but consistently very low REM can indicate lifestyle imbalances or underlying sleep disturbances.
Practical tip: To optimize REM sleep:
• Aim for a full night’s sleep – REM is concentrated in the later stages of the night.
• Stick to a consistent sleep schedule aligned with your chronotype (morning lark, night owl, or hummingbird).
• Avoid alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine in the evening, as they are known to suppress REM.
• Create a calming bedtime routine to reduce stress, which can fragment REM cycles.
REM sleep is where your brain resets, organizes memories, and restores emotional balance. Protecting this stage is essential for both mental sharpness and long-term well-being.
Sleep Efficiency
What it measures?
Sleep efficiency is the percentage of time you spend asleep compared to the total time you spend in bed. It is one of the most widely used indicators in sleep science to evaluate how consolidated and restorative your sleep is.
What science says?
For healthy adults, a sleep efficiency of 85% or higher is generally considered a sign of restorative, uninterrupted sleep. Values below this threshold may indicate frequent awakenings, difficulty falling asleep, or excessive time spent in bed without sleeping. Research shows that reduced sleep efficiency is strongly associated with daytime fatigue, impaired cognitive performance, and long-term risk for insomnia.
With aging, sleep efficiency tends to decline naturally due to increased nighttime awakenings and lighter sleep stages.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA measures sleep efficiency by combining motion data, cardiovascular activity, and respiration patterns. This multi-signal approach provides a more accurate assessment of whether you were truly asleep or just lying in bed awake. By tracking your nightly efficiency and comparing it against long-term trends, NAVA helps you identify lifestyle habits or environmental factors that may be reducing your sleep quality.
What influences sleep efficiency?
• Sleep environment: noise, light, uncomfortable temperature, or an unsuitable mattress.
• Lifestyle habits: irregular sleep schedules, late caffeine intake, alcohol, or heavy meals before bed.
• Psychological factors: stress, anxiety, or mental overstimulation before sleep.
• Physiological factors: pain, illness, or sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.
Practical tip To improve sleep efficiency:
• Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool (around 18 °C / 65 °F is optimal).
• Avoid screens and bright lights in the hour before bedtime.
• Establish a consistent bedtime routine that signals to your body it’s time to rest.
• Use your bed primarily for sleep (and intimacy), rather than work or extended screen use.
By focusing on efficiency, you’re not only measuring how long you sleep, but also how well that time is used. Improving this metric can often lead to noticeable improvements in how rested and alert you feel during the day.
Sleep Latency
What it measures?
Sleep latency is the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep after lying down. It is a key measure of how well your body transitions from wakefulness into the first stages of sleep.
What science says?
In healthy adults, the ideal sleep latency is 15-20 minutes. Falling asleep in less than 5 minutes may indicate sleep deprivation or excessive daytime fatigue, while taking longer than 30 minutes may point to insomnia, stress, or irregular sleep habits.
Studies show that consistently prolonged latency is associated with reduced sleep efficiency, higher stress levels, and impaired daytime functioning. Short latency can be a useful signal of accumulated “sleep debt.”
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA combines motion, heart rate, and breathing patterns to precisely detect the moment your body shifts from wakefulness into light sleep. This enables accurate tracking of nightly latency, as well as long-term patterns. By monitoring changes, you can identify whether your lifestyle, stress levels, or pre-sleep habits are helping or hindering your ability to fall asleep naturally.
What influences sleep latency?
• Evening habits: exposure to blue light from screens, caffeine or nicotine intake, or heavy meals before bed.
• Emotional state: stress, anxiety, or racing thoughts can delay sleep onset.
• Environment: noise, temperature, or an uncomfortable mattress may extend latency.
• Physical activity: light activity during the day can reduce latency, but intense exercise close to bedtime may increase it.
Practical tip:
If you struggle to fall asleep:
• Keep lighting low and avoid screens for at least an hour before bed.
• Practice calming pre-sleep routines such as reading, meditation, or breathing exercises.
• If you can’t fall asleep within 20–30 minutes, it may help to briefly leave the bed and do a quiet, non-stimulating activity until you feel drowsy again.
Understanding and improving sleep latency can help you achieve faster, smoother transitions into sleep, resulting in higher overall efficiency and better nightly recovery.
Blood Oxygen (SpO₂)
What it measures?
Blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂) indicates the percentage of hemoglobin in your red blood cells that is carrying oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. During sleep, maintaining stable oxygen levels is crucial for efficient recovery and healthy brain and body function.
What science says?
Normal blood oxygen levels typically range between 95-100%. Short, mild drops in SpO₂ can occur naturally, especially during REM sleep, but persistent or significant decreases may signal breathing disturbances such as sleep apnea, nasal congestion, or underlying health conditions.
Research shows that chronic nocturnal desaturation can affect cognitive function, cardiovascular health, and daytime alertness. Long-term monitoring of SpO₂ is therefore more meaningful than single-night measurements, as it reveals trends that may warrant lifestyle changes or medical attention.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA uses advanced optical sensors to continuously track your SpO₂ throughout the night. By correlating oxygen levels with sleep stages, movement, and heart activity, NAVA provides a holistic view of your nightly breathing stability. This allows you to distinguish between occasional dips and recurring patterns that may impact your health.
What influences SpO₂?
• Sleeping position: back-sleeping may increase snoring or airway obstruction, while side-sleeping often improves oxygen flow.
• Environment: allergens, poor air quality, or dry bedroom air can lower oxygen levels.
• Lifestyle factors: smoking, alcohol use, or excess weight may reduce oxygen stability.
• Medical conditions: asthma, respiratory infections, or sleep-disordered breathing.
Practical tip:
To support healthy blood oxygen levels during sleep:
• Keep your airways clear (address nasal congestion, maintain good bedroom ventilation).
• Try sleeping on your side to reduce airway obstruction and snoring.
• Avoid alcohol and sedatives before bedtime, as they relax airway muscles.
• Monitor long-term SpO₂ trends in the NAVA app and consult a healthcare professional if you consistently see values below 94%.
Stable blood oxygenation is a cornerstone of restorative sleep. Monitoring this metric helps you ensure your body is receiving the oxygen it needs to recover, heal, and perform optimally.
Respiratory Rate
What it measures?
Respiratory rate reflects the average number of breaths you take per minute while sleeping. It is a sensitive marker of your body’s physiological state, as breathing patterns are directly influenced by your nervous system, metabolism, and overall health.
What science says?
For healthy adults, the normal respiratory rate at rest is typically 12-20 breaths per minute. During sleep, breathing becomes slower and more regular, especially in deep sleep stages.
• Increased respiratory rate during the night can be linked to fever, illness, stress, anxiety, or respiratory conditions such as asthma.
• Decreased respiratory rate may appear in very fit individuals or during deep sleep, but can also indicate underlying medical conditions when abnormally low.
Research shows that tracking long-term respiratory trends can help detect early signs of respiratory infections, cardiovascular stress, or sleep-disordered breathing.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA uses highly sensitive sensors to track breathing patterns in real time. By combining respiratory signals with heart activity and sleep stage data, NAVA provides a context-rich understanding of your nightly breathing. Rather than focusing on single-night values, the app highlights your long-term baseline and deviations that may indicate changes in health or recovery.
What influences respiratory rate?
• Physical fitness: athletes often have naturally lower rates due to stronger respiratory efficiency.
• Illness or infection: fever, colds, or respiratory disease can elevate breathing rate.
• Stress and anxiety: activate the sympathetic nervous system, causing faster, shallower breathing.
• Sleep stage: breathing is more regular in deep sleep and more variable during REM sleep.
• Environment: altitude, air quality, and room temperature can affect nightly respiration.
Practical tip: Monitor your respiratory rate trends over time, not just night by night. Sudden changes (for example, consistently higher breathing rate than your baseline) may indicate that your body is fighting stress, overtraining, or illness. If you observe persistent irregularities, consider adjusting your training load, improving your sleep environment, or consulting a healthcare provider.
Stable, regular breathing during sleep is a cornerstone of restorative rest. By keeping track of your respiratory rate, you gain another powerful tool for understanding and protecting your long-term health.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
What it measures?
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) represents the variation in time between consecutive heartbeats, measured in milliseconds. Unlike average heart rate, HRV reflects the dynamic balance between your sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”) and parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and recover”).
What science says?
Higher HRV is generally considered a sign of greater adaptability, resilience, and recovery capacity, while lower HRV is often associated with stress, fatigue, illness, or overtraining.
• Typical HRV values vary widely – from below 20 ms to over 120 ms – depending on age, sex, genetics, and fitness level.
• HRV naturally declines with age, though lifestyle choices such as regular exercise, good sleep, and stress management can help maintain healthier levels.
• Research has shown that HRV is one of the strongest non-invasive predictors of autonomic nervous system health, cardiovascular function, and stress response.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA continuously measures HRV during sleep, when external factors such as movement and conscious activity are minimized. This makes nightly HRV a reliable indicator of how well your body is recovering. By comparing your HRV to your personal baseline, NAVA provides context on whether you are in a state of balance, under stress, or optimally recovered.
What influences HRV?
• Positive influences: aerobic training, mindfulness, meditation, regular sleep, and good hydration.
• Negative influences: alcohol, illness, chronic stress, poor sleep, dehydration, or overtraining.
• Circadian rhythm: HRV is typically higher at night and lower during the day.
• Lifestyle disruptions: travel, jet lag, irregular schedules.
Practical tip: Focus on your trends, not single-night values. For example, a temporary drop after hard exercise or a stressful day is normal. However, consistently low HRV over multiple nights may indicate that your body needs more recovery time or that stress management strategies should be prioritized.
HRV is a window into your body’s ability to adapt and recover. By tracking it nightly, NAVA helps you make better choices about training, rest, and stress management – ultimately supporting both performance and long-term health.
Cardiac Coherence Index (CCI)
What it measures?
The Cardiac Coherence Index (CCI) is a unique NAVA metric that quantifies the degree of synchronization between heart rate rhythms and breathing cycles during sleep. It is expressed on a 0-10 scale, with higher scores reflecting calmer, more restorative sleep, enhanced emotional regulation, and deeper autonomic recovery.
What science says?
Unlike conventional sleep metrics – such as total duration or sleep stage distribution – cardiac coherence captures the quality of physiological relaxation during sleep. Research suggests that individuals can appear to have “normal” sleep architecture, while still experiencing poor autonomic recovery if coherence is low.
A 2020 study (Development and Evaluation of a Cardiac Coherence Index for Sleep Analysis, Journal of Psychology in Africa) highlighted that coherence analysis provides valuable insights into emotional regulation, parasympathetic activation, and resilience to stress.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA is among the first sleep technologies to integrate a validated coherence index into nightly sleep analytics. This allows users to see not only how much they slept, but also how deeply their body and nervous system relaxed during that sleep.
Unlike Apple Watch or Oura, which do not measure cardiac coherence, NAVA provides this exclusive advantage for a more complete view of recovery.
Practical tip:
Monitoring your CCI helps reveal hidden stress loads that may persist during sleep. To improve coherence before bedtime:
• Practice paced breathing (5-7 breaths per minute).
• Use relaxation routines such as meditation, stretching, or mindfulness exercises.
• Avoid stimulants, alcohol, or emotionally activating activities close to bedtime.
By integrating cardiac coherence into sleep analysis, NAVA gives you a more holistic and research-driven picture of sleep health – helping you understand not just how long you slept, but how well you truly recovered.
Interbeat Interval (IBI)
What it measures?
The Interbeat Interval (IBI) represents the exact amount of time, measured in milliseconds, between two consecutive heartbeats. It is the raw data from which advanced metrics such as Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Cardiac Coherence are derived.
What science says?
IBI is a fundamental marker of autonomic nervous system activity.
• Stable and regular IBI patterns during sleep reflect parasympathetic dominance – the body’s “rest and recover” mode.
• Irregular IBIs may indicate stress, sleep fragmentation, or physiological disturbances such as arrhythmias or breathing irregularities.
Research in sleep physiology shows that analyzing IBI offers fine-grained insight into sleep stability, cardiovascular function, and stress resilience. Because it is highly sensitive, IBI can detect subtle physiological changes that may not be visible through average heart rate or HRV alone.
How NAVA Ring helps?
Unlike devices that only report summary statistics, NAVA tracks IBIs throughout the entire night, capturing micro-changes in your cardiovascular rhythm. This allows for:
• More precise HRV calculations.
• Integration into our Cardiac Coherence Index (CCI) for a deeper view of sleep quality.
• Detection of subtle disruptions in recovery that may not appear in broader metrics like total sleep or RHR.
What influences IBI?
• Stress and anxiety: increase variability and irregularity.
• Sleep stage: IBIs are longer and more stable during deep sleep, and shorter and more variable during REM.
• Lifestyle: alcohol, caffeine, and late exercise can alter IBI patterns.
• Medical conditions: arrhythmias, sleep apnea, and other cardiopulmonary factors.
Practical tip:
Focus on patterns across time, rather than single-night changes. For example:
• A sudden shortening of IBI combined with low HRV may indicate stress or overtraining.
• Longer, stable IBIs with higher coherence often signal optimal recovery.
By monitoring IBIs continuously, NAVA Ring provides one of the most detailed windows into your cardiovascular health during sleep – offering not just averages, but a moment-to-moment picture of how your heart and nervous system are working together as you recover.
Sleep Chronotype
What it measures?
Your chronotype reflects your natural biological preference for sleep and wake times – in other words, whether you’re inclined to be an early riser (morning lark), night owl, or somewhere in between (hummingbird). Chronotype is driven by your internal circadian clock, which influences sleep patterns, energy levels, hormone release, and cognitive performance throughout the day.
What science says?
• Morning larks: naturally wake up early, feel most alert in the morning, and tend to feel sleepy earlier in the evening. Studies suggest larks may experience more consistent alignment between biological and social schedules, which supports stable mood and higher daytime energy.
• Night owls: prefer later bedtimes and perform best in the evening. They often experience “social jetlag” when work or school schedules force early wake-ups, which research links to increased risk of fatigue, mood disturbances, and metabolic stress.
• Hummingbirds: fall somewhere between larks and owls, and typically adapt more flexibly to different sleep schedules.
Chronotype is not just about preference – it reflects genetic and physiological factors. Misalignment between your chronotype and daily routine (e.g., a night owl forced into early shifts) has been linked to lower sleep quality, impaired performance, and increased long-term health risks.
How NAVA Ring helps?
By analyzing long-term sleep and wake patterns, NAVA identifies your chronotype and provides personalized insights. Understanding your natural rhythm allows you to optimize work, training, and rest schedules to align better with your biology.
What influences chronotype?
• Genetics: core circadian genes strongly shape chronotype.
• Age: adolescents and young adults tend to skew later (owl), while older adults often shift earlier (lark).
• Lifestyle: light exposure, caffeine use, work schedules, and travel can all shift circadian timing.
Practical tip:
Once you know your chronotype:
• Align demanding tasks (work, study, training) with your peak energy hours.
• Keep consistent sleep–wake times, especially on weekends, to reduce circadian misalignment.
• Use morning light exposure to shift earlier, or limit late-night light to shift later, if adjustment is needed.
By recognizing whether you’re a lark, owl, or hummingbird, NAVA helps you align your sleep with your natural circadian rhythm – improving both performance and long-term health.
Body Temperature
What it measures?
Body temperature reflects the nightly fluctuations in your core physiology. These variations occur naturally as part of your circadian rhythm and can provide powerful insights into recovery, illness, hormonal cycles, and overall health status.
What science says?
• Normal body temperature follows a daily rhythm: it drops at night to promote sleep onset, reaches its lowest point in the early morning hours, and rises again toward daytime activity.
• Research shows that elevated nighttime temperature may indicate overtraining, late physical activity, illness, infection, or even consumption of alcohol or heavy meals.
• In women, body temperature also follows a monthly rhythm: it tends to be lower in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle and rises slightly in the luteal phase due to hormonal changes. This makes temperature a useful marker for tracking menstrual health and fertility patterns.
• Sustained higher-than-normal nighttime temperature has been linked to reduced sleep efficiency, fragmented deep sleep, and slower recovery.
How NAVA Ring helps?
NAVA continuously monitors subtle changes in peripheral skin temperature throughout the night and compares them against your personal baseline. This allows detection of patterns such as:
• Early signs of illness or immune activation.
• Recovery strain after late exercise or stressful days.
• Menstrual cycle phase changes.
• Environmental influences (room temperature, bedding, or clothing).
What influences body temperature?
• Lifestyle: late meals, alcohol, caffeine, or strenuous exercise close to bedtime.
• Environment: warm rooms, heavy blankets, or poor ventilation.
• Health status: infections, inflammation, or hormonal shifts.
• Circadian rhythm: natural fluctuations throughout the 24-hour cycle.
Practical tip:
• Keep your bedroom cool (≈18 °C / 65 °F) for optimal deep sleep.
• Avoid high-intensity exercise or hot, heavy meals within 2–3 hours of bedtime.
• Monitor your baseline trends: sudden spikes can be an early signal to prioritize rest or check for illness.
By tracking body temperature in context with sleep stages, HRV, and coherence, NAVA provides a holistic view of your recovery and readiness – helping you catch hidden stress or illness before it impacts your daily performance.
