Last week, when U.S. Senator Cory Booker shattered Republican Senator Strom Thurmond’s record for the longest speech in Senate history—speaking for an astounding 25 hours and 8 minutes all while standing the entire time—he left many wondering how he did it.
The symbolic protest against Donald Trump and his new executive orders and policies in his second term, which attracted over a million views on YouTube and more than 350 million likes on its official TikTok stream, some observant viewers noticed an obscure black ring on his middle finger and asked, “Is that an Oura Ring?”
Yes, he was definitely sporting that popular data-tracking device that everyone in the wellness and longevity community adores.
“My Oura Ring is telling me to see a doctor,” he joked during a recent interview with Vogue, confirming what viewers had suspected. “It hasn’t been this unhappy with me since I got COVID.”
“For the first four or five hours [of my speech], everything was very normal. Then my heart rate just shot up and stayed up for a very long time, all over 100.”
The wearable technology was just one aspect of Booker’s plan for navigating and succeeding during his 25 hours on the Senate floor because the rules do not allow for bathroom breaks or extended pauses when someone participates in this way.
“Supporting Chris Murphy was a great research project to see if I could even do this,” he told the fashion and lifestyle publication. He was referring to the Connecticut senator’s 2019 filibuster advocating for gun laws, during which he stood in support for the entire 15 hours.
To physically prepare for the challenge, Booker used, “a lot of tactics,” he said, mentioning that he fasted and drank less water in the days leading up to it so he could stand without the need to use the restroom. “I think that had good and bad benefits. I definitely started cramping up from lack of water,” Booker told CNN’s Manu Raju last Tuesday. “In the end, I was just trying to do something to stop my muscles from cramping.”
“I’m [also] an intermittent faster, so my strategy was to stop eating on Friday and get myself into ketosis,” he continues with Vogue. When I start burning ketones, I feel a shift where I suddenly get more energy, more clarity, and more focus. I wanted to get myself into ketosis, and I also decided to dehydrate myself, which I think worked really well as a strategy of not having to go to the bathroom, but I think it also caused me a lot of muscle spasms.”
Even though Booker’s speech wasn’t a true filibuster – meaning it wasn’t a prolonged effort in the Senate to delay or stop a vote on a law – it was still a remarkable feat. According to a press release from his office on April 1, the senator used over 1,000 pages of notes put together by his Senate staff, which included stories from more than 200 Americans. These individuals had reached out to him, sharing their experiences of how they have been or could be affected by Trump’s policy changes.
“The first letter that I started choking up on was a very painful letter that ended with ‘What can I do to help?’ I started to lose it a bit emotionally thinking about these people who themselves are struggling but trying to still serve others.”
This idea fueled his motivation, along with the memory of the late Congressman John Lewis. He credits Lewis with significantly impacting his life and recognizes him for his tremendous contributions to civil rights, particularly his famous quote urging us all to make “good trouble.”
“In many ways, he was the ancestor I was leaning on the most,” he says. “I realize that I stand on the shoulders of a generation who lived during the times of segregation and lynching and all kinds of shameful bigotry. They didn’t have a lot of power, they weren’t rich, they didn’t have elected positions, but they did something. My staff and I realized we had to do something different, we had to cause some trouble. As a senator, I have the right to speech, so I decided to just keep speaking. That was the origin of this.”
There was also a chance to break Thurmond’s old record. In 1957, the senator from South Carolina gave a speech that lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to protest the Civil Rights Act.
Booker beat his record by almost one hour.
“I never wanted to tell anybody or set the expectation that we were going to break that record,” he explained. “We were very clear: We just wanted to go for as long as I could go. I physically knew I could do 10 hours or 15 hours. But I have been bothered since I got to the United States Senate by the fact that the longest filibuster in constitutional history was trying to block the very civil rights that gave me the opportunities I have had in my life. So I didn’t want to tell anybody but my staff, but I was going for that record.”
When Booker finally walked off the senate floor, having set a new record, all he really wanted was a banana to elevate his potassium levels and hopefully, relieve the awful muscle cramps he had. Reflecting on the experience, he describes it as “a journey.”
“I felt this in my body in so many ways, but it was actually a journey of healing for my spirit. I was pushing myself beyond my own expectations, stepped out on faith, and confronted my own fears while leaning on the largest fears of this country.”
The New Jersey Democrat also wants people to see his speech as a reason to take action.
“Given the monumental challenges we’re facing as a country right now, I think all of us need to do a little soul-searching and ask, What more can we do in the cause of our country? If every one of us did just a little bit of extra good, we could overwhelm the world with a new spirit of kindness and strength. I hope there’s a momentum where one person will help one person and they will pass it on. It sets a course of change beyond our expectations.”
Even though Booker might still have issues with that Oura Ring – the Readiness Score is always accurate (it assesses your body’s readiness for the day, based on factors like sleep, activity and body signals)—it won’t stop him from moving forward.
“While the body has its limitations, there’s no limit on the human spirit,” he said.
