Nothing helped—until one day my dentist told me I had the so-called "young, thin, beautiful women's sleep disorder."
“Upper 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 and—though they're not actually in danger—their body perceives they're suffocating and wakes them up.”
“The American Academy of Sleep Medicine categorizes UARS as a form of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA)—but 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 shallow—and includes few randomized, controlled trials—sleep 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 known—in part because it's thought to be so underdiagnosed—[…]”
“That 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. […] 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 breathing—symptoms a bed partner would likely notice—but they tend to complain of greater fatigue than people with standard apnea do.”
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).
