Nothing helpedāuntil one day my dentist told me I had the so-called "young, thin, beautiful women's sleep disorder."
āUpper airway resistance syndrome was identified in adults nearly 25 years ago by medical researchers at Stanford University. It's a form of sleep- disordered breathing in which people get slightly less air than they should because some part of their airway is too narrow andāthough they're not actually in dangerātheir body perceives they're suffocating and wakes them up.ā
āThe American Academy of Sleep Medicine categorizes UARS as a form of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA)ābut UARS's effects are subtler and its diagnosis trickier than the apnea most people are familiar with. Because the research on it is broad but rather shallowāand includes few randomized, controlled trialsāsleep experts disagree about almost every aspect of the disorder, from whether it's distinct from OSA to the best therapies to ameliorate it. The exact prevalence of UARS isn't knownāin part because it's thought to be so underdiagnosedā[ā¦]ā
āThat said, there are some established facts about UARS: While OSA is associated with being older, heavier, and male, UARS sufferers are typically younger, leaner, and predominantly female, according to epidemiological data. A petite build may be a risk factor, because smaller bodies have smaller airways, which can be more easily crowded by adenoids, the tongue, and the uvula, as well as relaxation of the throat during sleep. [ā¦] High blood pressure commonly occurs in tandem with OSA; the opposite is true for UARS, in which blood pressure can be so low that it leads to fainting and chronically cold extremities. UARS patients don't always snore or stop breathingāsymptoms a bed partner would likely noticeābut they tend to complain of greater fatigue than people with standard apnea do.ā
If you have unrelenting fatigue, PLEASE do yourself a favor and get yourself a sleep study. This disorder is criminally underdiagnosed in people who are young / female / thin / fit (pick any).
