In the town of Ora, Indiana, the trees are thriving but the people are not. Farmers are three times as likely to die by suicide than the national average. They feed the world - while running on empty.

Oura knew we could help.

the idea

What if recovery could be seen, shared, and rooted in community?

We gave every resident in Ora an Oura ring.

And we gave every poplar tree a purpose.

Trees became silent mirrors—reflecting back the toll of stress, and the gift of care.

Poplar trees—the state tree of Indiana—are sensitive to stress.

So are we.

When water is scarce, when stress is high, when nutrients run low—trees wilt. And so do people.

What if we treated people the way we treat crops?
What if the well-being of a tree could help a town grow?

Oura launched an experiment in the town that shares its name.

We built a greenhouse and turned trees into mirrors.

Biometric sensors tracked their “stress”—the same way Oura rings do for humans.

By syncing tree biology with human biometrics, we gave residents—and their trees—

a chance to grow side by side.

accountability is a powerful fertilizer

A public leaderboard outside town hall displayed health scores and a live feed to the plants for top participants.

Competition provided a way to grow together. Care became a shared activity, not a solo one.

the daily ritual

Every day, at 2pm, the whole town shuts down.

All Oura rings glow softly, signaling a collective 30-minute rest period.

Shops close. Tractors stop. People breathe.
They check on their trees. And tend to themselves.

Rest became not just personal—but cultural.

real change, in real people

Six months in, the transformation was undeniable. So we handed Ora the pen.

Residents’ reflections were turned into ads—placed across Ora and other rural towns like it.

What started as a personal shift became a national invitation as the campaign spread into urban areas and on social media.

a living tree, in your pocket

In the Oura app, users received a virtual tree mirroring their biometrics in real time.

When recovery improved, it bloomed.

When stress crept in, it withered. The metaphor took root.

growth deserves to be remembered

One year later, the greenhouse came down. Each matured poplar was planted in its place, alongside a plaque with its caretaker’s name.

A living reminder of the ways that caring for yourself leads to visible change.