Becoming EXCEPTIONAL at 43 (almost 44)
My Oura ring just hit an all-time record. These eight things made it happen.
Let’s be honest: there aren’t all that many days where you just wake up feeling Exceptional in your 40s without a lot of intention behind it.
So when it happens? You accept it graciously, you screenshot it immediately, and you lean all the way in. I am always here for the vanity metrics, and flattery? Flattery will absolutely get you everywhere.
My Oura ring just handed me a personal all-time record — and I’ve been giddy about it ever since. (this post is NOT sponsored— but I have a small referral code at the bottom if you’re in the market!)
I’ve been an Oura user for almost five years. And I want to be clear about my relationship with this ring, because it matters: I don’t let the data run my life or dictate my mood. I’m here for the science. The patterns. The feedback loop that most people never have access to. Over the years, learning my body this intimately — layered on top of everything I’ve uncovered through DNA testing — has given me a level of self-knowledge that I genuinely believe is what made this record possible.
My Oura ring has been with me through a lot. Post-surgery recovery — multiple times over the past several years. The full hormonal roller coaster that came with estrogen dominance and everything leading up to my hysterectomy (if you’re new here, that’s a whole story — I’ll link the relevant posts below). Fat loss seasons. High-stress seasons. And now, my midlife optimization era, which — for the record — is going extremely well.
Here’s how I actually use the data in practice: when my Readiness or Sleep scores dip below crown level, I treat that as a real signal — not a suggestion. It means lighter movement, a different level of support, more intentional rest for the day ahead. When scores are green and climbing, I know I have the biological runway to push. The ring doesn’t boss me around. It just tells me the truth, and I’ve spent five years learning to listen.
Now — here’s what I’ve been taking seriously lately: sleep.
I know. Not exactly the spiciest topic. But if you are chasing vitality, hormonal balance, fat loss, or honestly any goal that actually matters — a lot of it starts here. Sleep is not optional, and it’s not negotiable.
Here’s my personal wrinkle: genetically, I am not built for this. I’ve had a history of low-key insomnia for years, just like my mom (hi mom!). My DNA results confirmed long ago that my body really struggles with disruptions to circadian rhythm. So last week, when Daylight Saving Time hit and a work trip took me across multiple time zones in the same stretch, I knew it was time to flex and focus. That’s exactly what I did.
What followed was a record-breaking Oura score in a matter of days.
I do want to be clear: Exceptional doesn’t happen overnight. This score is the result of years of insight, testing, and optimization — knowing my blueprint well enough to know exactly which levers to pull. But here’s what I’ve changed most recently, and what I believe pushed me over the edge.
1. Zero alcohol. Full stop.
This is the one people always want to negotiate with. Just one glass. Just on weekends. Just on vacation.
I stopped negotiating. Alcohol tanks sleep quality in ways the data makes impossible to ignore — and when I made eliminating it non-negotiable, my scores started climbing almost immediately.
I still enjoy an occasional evening wind-down — there are some incredible herbal mocktails doing the rounds right now that do more for my nervous system than any glass of wine ever did, and without the recovery debt. You know the ones. 😏 I’ve got some of my favorites linked in my shop if you want to browse.
2. Alkaline water — and a lot of it.
Hydration is one of those fundamentals that sounds too simple to be significant. It’s not. Proper hydration supports every recovery pathway your body runs at night, and most of us are chronically under-hydrated in ways we don’t even register as a problem.
I made it a non-negotiable. Big glass first thing. Consistent throughout the day. More than felt necessary, every single day.
3. I actually rested when my scores told me to.
This sounds obvious. It’s not actually how most high-performers operate.
When my Readiness or Sleep score dipped below crown level, I took the cue seriously. Not as failure — as feedback. I modified my movement, pulled back on intensity, protected my recovery window.
Trusting the data enough to respond to it instead of powering through it? That shift alone changed everything.
4. Sleep supplements: CBN and melatonin.
I’m not a fan of throwing a dozen things at a problem. I keep my supplement stack intentional.
For sleep specifically, I’ve been leaning on CBN and low-dose melatonin consistently. CBN in particular has been a quiet favorite for the kind of deep, restorative sleep that actually shows up in your score the next morning. Everything I’m currently using is linked in my sleep collection here.
5. A consistent bedtime — aiming for 9:30 PM.
Your circadian rhythm doesn’t care about your schedule. It cares about consistency.
I’ve been anchoring my nights around a 9:30 PM target. Not hitting it perfectly every night — but having the target changes how I move through my evenings. I’m winding down earlier, stimulation goes off, the prep starts.
That rhythm compounds.
6. Sleep and sound meditations from Open.
There is a version of me who would have rolled her eyes at this. That version of me also had worse recovery scores.
I’ve been using the Open app for sleep and sound meditations consistently, and it has genuinely changed the quality of my evenings. If you haven’t tried it: a targeted sound meditation is a different experience than background noise. You can get a 30-day trial pass here.
BONUS— Your nervous system knows the difference: There’s even an Open x Oura integration now that shows your real-time biometrics during the meditations!!
7. Journaling with Rosebud — morning and evening, every day since January.
This one is personal, and I want to talk about it honestly.
I’ve tried a lot of journaling tools. Most of them didn’t stick because they felt generic — like they were built for someone who isn’t me.
Rosebud is different because I’ve trained it to be different. I’ve customized the way it speaks to me so that it aligns with my actual goals and my actual personality. And because of that, I actually want to show up for it. I voice note when I’m rushing, I text when I want to think slowly, and I’ve been doing consistent AM and PM check-ins since right after the new year.
The impact on my recovery data has been measurable. Stress is inflammation. Processing daily emotional weight before you go to sleep is a biological act, not just a mental health exercise.
8. Anti-inflammatory support — the protocol I’ve been building for years.
This one I’ll keep intentionally vague because it’s not one-size-fits-all and I don’t throw out protocols for public consumption without the proper context.
What I will say is this: I’ve been supporting my inflammatory pathways deliberately for years. My current stack includes a high-dose run with my GLOW blend and a maintenance dose of a GLP-1 support protocol I’ve been on for some time.
The inflammation piece is often the missing link for people who are doing everything else right and still not seeing scores reflect their effort. Your recovery data doesn’t just reflect last night — it reflects the cumulative state of your biology.
The bigger picture:
None of these things alone got me to Exceptional.
It was all of them, stacked deliberately, held consistently, informed by years of understanding my own genetic blueprint. I know what my body prioritizes. I know what tanks my recovery before I even feel it. I know which pathways to support and which ones have been the hidden source of friction for most of my adult life.
That’s the real advantage of understanding your DNA. Not a one-time revelation — a permanent operating manual.
Want to know where your biology is leaving performance on the table? Start with our free quiz — it’s the fastest way to see which piece of your puzzle has been missing.
Want to get an Oura ring and start tracking for yourself? Save 10% with this link (until it’s used a maximum number of times)
I have to check out Rosebud!