Evaluate Your Sleep
Not everyone has a sleep disorder. But most people would like to sleep better
or longer than they do. A sleep disorder may be keeping you from feeling
refreshed and alert. Or maybe your life is just so busy that you feel like you
can never catch up on your sleep. In either case, it is a good idea to take
some time and evaluate how well you are sleeping. Doing so will let you see if
there are problems that you need help with. You will also find out if there are
changes you need to make in your sleep habits. Your sleep has an effect on
every other area of your life. This makes it very important to know if you are
getting the kind of sleep that you need.
The following tools will help you rate your sleep. You will be able to see if
your sleep is helping you or hurting you. You may also become aware of sleep
problems that you did not notice before. The results will be useful for a
doctor who wants to get a better idea of how you are sleeping.
Epworth Sleepiness Scale
This is the standard series of questions that are widely used to see how your
sleep affects your daily life. You will rate how likely you are to fall asleep
in certain situations.
This will help you chart your daily pattern of sleep for two weeks. You should
fill this out before seeing a doctor about a sleep problem. It is a visual tool
to help the doctor see areas of concern in your sleep. It will also provide the
doctor with clues as to what may be causing your problem.
This is a series of True/False questions. It will help reveal any problems in
your pattern of sleep. It will also look at how your sleep affects you during
Are you a tired teen? The Cleveland Adolescent Sleepiness Questionnaire will
help you find out. Rate 16 statements and use the Score Sheet to see how sleepy
you are during the school week. A higher score means that you are sleepy during
the day and need to get more sleep on school nights.