Symptoms of UARS

Upper airway resistance syndrome, commonly shortened to UARS, is a rare sleep breathing disorder characterized by narrowing in the airways that causes sleep fragmentation and symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, chronic insomnia, and cognitive issues.

UARS In a Nutshell

If you don't know what UARS is, here's my simple explanation for how I understand UARS.

As you could probably guess from the name, upper airway resistance syndrome occurs when there is narrowing in the airways that greatly increases the effort required to take a breath. Breathing with UARS could be compared to breathing through a straw... no fun at all.

It gets harder to breathe, and your body starts working overtime to make sure it's able to maintain your oxygen levels. This places a lot of strain on your heart, muscles, and brain.

As you could imagine, this increase in resistance also causes awakenings throughout the night, making it nearly impossible to get high-quality, undisturbed sleep. You might even be experiencing something known as a micro-awakening, which is when you wake up for maybe a few seconds (sometimes less than a second) and fall back asleep, never even remembering this happening.

Waking up the morning after a night of UARS ridden sleep is sure to leave anybody feeling awful... You might notice your jaw is sore after hours of clenching your jaw, mouth is drier than the Sahara Desert from the mouth breathing, and head is throbbing like someone blasted music in your ears all night.

Not So Subtle Sleepiness

What makes UARS so troubling is the subtlety of its symptoms... which often coincide with other illnesses such as depression, fibromyalgia, or autoimmune disease, making it difficult for one to find the true cause of their symptoms.

As the symptoms masquerade as other illnesses you'll be running doctor-to-doctor for blood test after blood test only to find little to nothing of value.

Even worse, from the perspective of someone with UARS, they are getting 8 hours of continuous sleep per night, unbeknownst to the hundreds of micro-awakenings they experience each night. They rarely question their sleep.

Symptoms of UARS

At a Glance

• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Frequent awakenings at night
• Snoring
• Cognitive impairment
• Unrefreshing sleep
• TMJ issues or clenching of jaw/teeth during sleep
• Headaches when waking up
• Dry mouth and/or throat when waking up
• Nasal congestion
• Low blood pressure in UARS patients — Obstructive Sleep Apnea is more likely to cause high blood pressure

1. Excessive daytime sleepiness

The hallmark symptom of UARS is excessive daytime sleepiness with no apparent cause.

If you can sleep for 9 hours and wake up feeling just as tired — if not more, you might be suffering from some type of sleep disorder.

I personally have been able to sleep for 8-9 hours... open my eyes to glance at my phone, and before I know it, another 6-7 hours have passed. I finally drag myself out of bed but still can't seem to shake that groggy, sluggish feeling.

Are you tired of being tired?

Has your doctor run blood tests just to conclude that there's nothing abnormal? Maybe they were able to find one deficiency and treat it, but your fatigue is unrelenting.

If so, it could be possible that you suffer from a sleep breathing disorder such as UARS or sleep apnea.

2. Frequent awakenings at night

Do you wake up often during the night? It can be for any reason, either to use the restroom, just to roll over in bed, and anything else.

If you answered yes, your frequent awakenings could be caused by your UARS.

Often, people with UARS report that they have to wake up multiple times per night just to use the restroom. To the unsuspecting UARS sufferer, this could just be brushed off as having a small bladder.

3. Snoring

Snoring is the sound that occurs as air flows past the relaxed tissues in your airways. It seems like everybody knows somebody that snores, so how are you supposed to know when snoring is a sign of something more sinister like UARS?

Unlike obstructive sleep apnea where snoring is a hallmark symptom, those with UARS sometimes report mild snoring or no snoring at all!

Regardless of the severity, any snoring present at all would place you somewhere on the sleep breathing disorder continuum. Simply put, if you snore, you have a higher chance of suffering from a sleep-breathing disorder.

It's important to note, not everybody that snores has UARS, nor does everybody with UARS snore. When snoring is seen alongside multiple other symptoms, rather than snoring alone, then one might suspect UARS.

4. Cognitive impairment

It's interesting to see the various ways sleep deprivation will wreak havoc on your body.

One common manifestation of UARS is through cognitive symptoms such as...

• Brain fog
• Forgetfulness or memory deficits
• Anxiety and depression
• ADHD symptoms

Many UARS patients will report being treated by a psychiatrist for mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD only to find out years down the line that treating their underlying sleep disorder alleviated all/most mental symptoms.

5. Unrefreshing sleep

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It's Monday morning, and nobody else but your alarm clock is there to jolt you awake.

Do you sit up, stretch, take a deep breath, and continue to take on the day?

Or do you wake up feeling like you were hit by a truck, with a dry mouth, headache, and swear you feel more tired than you did before going to bed last night?

Don't kid yourself. It's not normal to be tired.

Those suffering from sleep disorders like UARS often become accustomed to living their lives sleep deprived. They really don't know any better until treatment.

6. TMJ Issues & Clenching of Teeth During Sleep (Bruxism)

Do you ever wake up with a sore jaw or painful teeth?

Before you make an appointment with your dentist for a filling, you might want to look into visiting a sleep dentist to assess your symptoms and/or refer you to a sleep study.

For those with UARS, morning headaches are just part of the usual routine.

Headaches caused by UARS are generally the most severe right when you wake up and diminish over the next 2-3 hours.

This is generally due to grinding of the teeth as the body is stressed during reduced flow episodes.

8. Dry Mouth

Ideally when we sleep, we should be breathing through our nose. Our nasal passages are a crucial component of the respiratory system and work to warm, moisten, and produce nitric oxide to clean the air you breathe and improve lung function.

When UARS causes reduced airflow during sleep, our mouths naturally open to help us get the air we need. While this is great for your lungs, you're likely to wake up with a dry mouth and cracked lips.

The real problem with mouth breathing is that it leads to a whole bunch of health problems when left untreated for years. Not to mention, it's a pretty tell-tale sign that you've got something going on with your breathing at night.

9. Nasal Congestion

Do you ever notice your nose completely stuffing up the second you lay down in bed?

If so, you might have allergies like me! I personally suffer from dust allergies and had to get a hypoallergenic pillow and mattress cover to alleviate this problem. I also have to religiously dust and clean my room and run an air purifier 24/7.

10. Hypotension (low blood pressure)

Unlike with obstructive sleep apnea which causes high blood pressure, UARS often causes low blood pressure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the differences between UARS and OSA?

These two conditions, upper airway resistance syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea, are very similar. Their differences mainly come from the pathology of each one.

In OSA, the airways become completely blocked.

In UARS, the airways are narrowed, but not closed, which is why they have similar symptoms.

For a more complete comparison between UARS and OSA, check out this post.

What conditions do the symptoms of UARS overlap with?

• Fibromyalgia
• Anxiety, depression
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Lyme disease
• Chronic fatigue syndrome