Insomnia Test: Why Can't I Get a Good Night's Sleep?

Do you toss and turn without falling asleep, wake in the small hours with your mind racing, or get up more tired than when you went to bed? Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder and, when it drags on, it wears down your mood, concentration and health. This insomnia test helps you gauge in three minutes how severe your sleep difficulties are and decide whether it is time to seek help. It is free, anonymous and your answers never leave your device.

What is insomnia? Acute and chronic insomnia

Insomnia is the persistent difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or getting back to sleep after waking too early, despite having adequate opportunity and conditions for sleep, accompanied by distress or poorer functioning during the day. It is not defined by the number of hours slept (some people need six, others nine) but by dissatisfaction with sleep and its consequences.

It is the most common sleep disorder: around a third of adults are estimated to experience insomnia symptoms at some point, and roughly 10% meet the criteria for chronic insomnia disorder.

Acute or short-term insomnia

It lasts days or weeks and is usually linked to an identifiable trigger: an exam, a problem at work, a break-up, a bereavement, an illness or a change of schedule. It usually resolves once the trigger disappears or the person adapts.

Chronic insomnia

The DSM-5-TR calls it insomnia disorder and requires the difficulties to occur at least three nights a week for a minimum of three months, to cause significant distress or impair daily functioning, and not to be better explained by another sleep disorder, a substance or a medical condition. ICD-11 uses equivalent criteria. In chronic insomnia the original trigger has usually passed; what keeps it going are habits, worry and the learned arousal that surrounds the act of going to sleep.

Insomnia symptoms: what happens at night and what happens by day

Insomnia symptoms are split between what happens in bed and what happens the next day. Both are needed to speak of a disorder: sleeping little with no daytime consequences is not insomnia, and feeling tired despite satisfactory sleep points to other causes.

Night-time symptoms

• Regularly taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.
• Frequent or prolonged awakenings during the night.
• Waking for good much earlier than wanted, unable to get back to sleep.
• Light, shallow sleep or a feeling of "never having switched off".
• A racing mind when the light goes out: replaying the day, plans, worries.

Daytime consequences

• Fatigue, lack of energy or sleepiness.
• Difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, mistakes and lower performance.
• Irritability, sadness, anxiety or low tolerance for frustration.
• Headaches, digestive discomfort or muscle tension.
• Constant worry about sleep and dread of the following night.

In the long term, chronic insomnia is associated with a higher risk of depression and anxiety, high blood pressure, metabolic changes, road and workplace accidents and poorer immune function. That is why it should not be normalised or left to "pass on its own" once it has been settled in for months.

Causes of insomnia: stress, anxiety, habits and other conditions

Insomnia rarely has a single cause. The most widely accepted model, the three-factor model (predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating factors), explains why a spell of poor sleep ends up becoming chronic:

• Predisposing factors: a tendency to hyperarousal, a perfectionist or ruminative personality, family history, older age.
• Precipitating factors: work or financial stress, a relationship conflict, a bereavement, childbirth, an illness, a change of shift or of country.
• Perpetuating factors: what we do to make up for poor sleep and which, paradoxically, keeps it going: going to bed earlier, lying awake in bed, long naps, caffeine to get through the day, alcohol to fall asleep, screens in bed and growing worry about sleep.

Conditions that cause or worsen insomnia include anxiety and depression, obstructive sleep apnoea (snoring and pauses in breathing), restless legs syndrome, chronic pain, reflux, thyroid problems, the menopause and certain medicines (some antidepressants, corticosteroids, bronchodilators, stimulants or decongestants). Irregular hours, shift work and jet lag disrupt the body clock and produce a similar picture.

Insomnia in women and in older people

Women are around 40% more likely than men to suffer from insomnia, with peaks during pregnancy, the postnatal period and perimenopause, when hot flushes and hormonal changes fragment sleep. With age, sleep becomes lighter and shifts earlier, and awakenings increase; but insomnia that affects the day is not a normal consequence of ageing and can be treated too.

How does this online insomnia test work?

This questionnaire consists of 12 statements spread across three areas, following the structure of the Insomnia Severity Index and current diagnostic criteria:

• Difficulties during the night (4 items): falling asleep, awakenings, early waking and unrefreshing sleep.
• Daytime consequences (4 items): tiredness, concentration, mood and interference with everyday life.
• Worry and habits (4 items): anxiety around sleep and the behaviours that tend to perpetuate insomnia, such as screens in bed, caffeine and alcohol.

For each statement, indicate how well it describes what has happened to you over the last two weeks, from "not at all" (0 points) to "extremely" (4 points). At the end you get a total score from 0 to 48 and a breakdown by area that shows whether your problem is mainly night-time, daytime or one of worry and habits, which points to where to start working.

The test is scored entirely in your browser: we do not ask for your name or email and we store none of your answers. Answer according to what happens on most nights, not the worst of them, and if you hesitate between two options choose the one that best reflects your usual situation.

How to interpret your insomnia test score

Scores are grouped into four indicative levels:

• 0-12 · Low: no significant indicators of insomnia; occasional difficulties with no daytime impact.
• 13-24 · Mild: mild or early difficulties; worth reviewing habits and monitoring how they evolve.
• 25-36 · Moderate: pattern consistent with insomnia disorder; consulting a professional and considering CBT-I is recommended.
• 37-48 · High: intense insomnia with a significant impact; assessment should be a priority.

Remember that this test is a screening, not a diagnosis. It measures how intense your difficulties have been over the last two weeks, but it cannot tell how long they have been present, how many nights a week they occur or whether they stem from another condition, such as sleep apnoea or depression. A high score means your sleep deserves professional attention; a low score does not rule out a problem if you feel you sleep badly.

The breakdown by area adds useful information: if you score high on "worry and habits", it is very likely that anxiety about sleeping and certain routines are feeding the problem, and that is precisely the area where cognitive behavioural therapy achieves the best results.

Insomnia, anxiety, depression and stress: a two-way relationship

Sleep and mental health influence each other. Stress switches on the alarm system (cortisol, adrenaline, racing thoughts) just when the body needs to wind down, and that is where the sleep-onset insomnia typical of overloaded periods comes from. Anxiety adds anticipation: the person starts to dread the night, checks the clock, counts the hours left and turns the bed into a place of tension. In depression, early-morning waking is very characteristic, around 4 or 5 a.m., with rumination and no way back to sleep, although the opposite can also occur: sleeping too much.

The relationship runs both ways: persistent insomnia multiplies the risk of developing depression and anxiety, and treating it improves the outlook for both. That is why insomnia is now considered to deserve attention in its own right, even when it coexists with another disorder, rather than being a mere symptom that will vanish once "the real problem" is solved.

If your score on this test is moderate or high, we recommend also completing the anxiety test, the depression test or the stress test: they will give you a fuller picture of what is going on and make the conversation with the professional who sees you easier.

What to do after the test: evidence-based insomnia treatment

If your result is moderate or high, or if you have been sleeping badly for more than three months, the next step is a professional assessment: a clinical interview, a two-week sleep diary and validated questionnaires. If apnoea, restless legs or another medical cause is suspected, your doctor may request a sleep study.

Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)

It is the first-line treatment according to the main international clinical guidelines, ahead of medication, because its benefits last after the course ends. Over 4-8 sessions, in person or online, it combines:

• Stimulus control: go to bed only when sleepy, use the bed solely for sleeping, get up if you are not asleep within about 20 minutes and keep a fixed wake-up time.
• Sleep restriction: temporarily match your time in bed to the time you actually sleep, to consolidate sleep and recover the feeling of deep sleep.
• Cognitive restructuring: challenge the beliefs that fuel anxiety about sleep ("if I don't get eight hours, tomorrow will be a disaster").
• Relaxation and worry management: breathing, muscle relaxation and techniques for "parking" worries before bed.
• Sleep hygiene: natural light in the morning, regular exercise, no caffeine from mid-afternoon, no alcohol as a sleep aid, and a dark, cool, screen-free bedroom.

Hypnotic medication can help in acute insomnia or at the start of therapy, always on prescription and for short periods, because it loses effectiveness and creates dependence.

When to see a doctor

Book an appointment if you snore loudly or others notice pauses in your breathing, if you are very sleepy during the day (especially when driving), if you get uncomfortable sensations in your legs at night, if the insomnia comes with very low mood, or if you have not slept well for more than three months. A psychologist specialised in sleep and anxiety, such as the one we recommend at the end of the test, can guide you through CBT-I.

The scientific basis of this insomnia test

The questions in this questionnaire were written from the DSM-5-TR criteria for insomnia disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, text revision) and ICD-11, and follow the structure of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the brief screening instrument most widely used in research and clinical practice, which assesses difficulty falling and staying asleep, early waking, satisfaction with sleep, daytime interference and worry about the problem. To that structure we have added items on the habits that perpetuate insomnia (screens, caffeine and alcohol), in line with the three-factor model and with the components of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, recommended as first-line treatment by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the European insomnia guideline. The cut-off points are indicative and were set to maximise sensitivity. The content has been reviewed by the MyPsicoTest team and is updated periodically in line with current clinical guidelines.

The 12 questions in this test

Think about how you have slept over the last 2 weeks.

1. I find it hard to fall asleep: when I go to bed, I spend a long time tossing and turning before I drop off.
2. I wake up several times during the night and find it hard to get back to sleep.
3. I wake up much earlier than planned and cannot get back to sleep.
4. I get up feeling that my sleep has not been refreshing, even after spending plenty of hours in bed.
5. During the day I feel tired, drained or sleepy because I have slept badly.
6. Lack of sleep makes it hard for me to concentrate, remember things or perform at work or in my studies.
7. I am more irritable, low or on edge than usual because I am not resting well.
8. My sleep problems interfere with my daily life (work, relationships, activities) or the people around me notice that I sleep badly.
9. I worry about not sleeping well and think about it often during the day.
10. When I go to bed I get tense or frustrated, anticipating that I will not manage to sleep.
11. I use my phone, tablet, computer or the TV in bed before sleeping or when I cannot fall asleep.
12. I rely on caffeine (coffee, tea, energy drinks) from mid-afternoon onwards to get through the day, or on alcohol at night to help me sleep.

Answer scale: Not at all · A little · Moderately · Quite a bit · Extremely

If your result worries you or you want a professional assessment, you can talk to Xènia Capel Salcedo, a licensed psychologist (COPC reg. 14982), who offers a free first consultation call and online therapy from anywhere.

Reviewed by the MyPsicoTest team · Updated: 27 October 2026