What is UARS? (Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome)

What is UARS - Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome?

While similar, there a few distinct differences between these two pesky conditions that are important when it comes to diagnosis, treatment, and symptoms.

When it comes to OSA, you really can't miss it… those around you will notice your pauses in breathing and they'll be clear as day on any kind of sleep study. UARS is much more subtle, and frequently missed even in full-fledged, in-lab sleep studies.

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.

During the day

If you suffer from UARS, your days are probably a drag. The symptoms can be quite debilitating.

At bedtime

A large number of people with UARS that I have persIonally spoken to have told me that they suffer from lifelong insomnia, myself included.

It's important to know there are different types of insomnia. Namely, sleep-onset and sleep-maintenance. These can be acute, chronic, or comorbid with another condition such as anxiety, pain, etc.

UARS can cause both trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. I myself can't stay asleep for more than 4 hrs a night unless I'm lucky.

Nobody explains this better than Dr. Barry Krakow… you can learn more about Krakow's work in this interview he did with Sleep Review Mag.

During the night

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.

In the morning

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.

Sounds like fun, right? Didn’t think so.