Quick screening tests for causes of sleep disorders

Excessive Daytime

Sleepiness

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Insomnia

Depression

Anxiety / Stress

Heartburn/Reflux/GERD

Periodic Limb Movements

in Sleep (PLMS)

Restless Leg Syndrome

Nasal or sinus problems

Asthma

Lung Disease

Circadian Rhythm Disorder

Hypersomnia

Narcolepsy

Parasomnias

If you answered true to two or more statements in any category, it suggests that you have the condition listed. But many people have one or more true statement in many different categories. If that is true for you, sign up for a Personal Sleep Trainer or talk to a sleep specialist in your area.

Think you might have sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome?

Wondering if GERD or depression might be making you tired all the time?

Take the following quick tests and find out!

If you can answer "yes" to two or more statements in any of the following thirteen categories, it suggests that you are suffering from the listed condition or disorder. Click on the condition or disorder to read more about it either on this site or through a quick link.

Symptoms:

___ My family and friends say I have become grumpy and irritable.

___ I have less energy than I used to.

___ I could easily take a nap before dinner.

___ I have trouble concentrating.

Quick diagnosis: Excessive daytime sleepiness. Quick suggestion: follow the ten step plan in The Guide to Better Sleep Naturally to GET MORE SLEEP!

Symptoms:

___ I have been told that I snore, snort or stop breathing when I sleep.

___ I have been told that I thrash about a lot when I sleep.

___ I usually make more than 2 trips to the bathroom at night.

___ I sleep propped up on 2 or more pillows.

Quick diagnosis: Obstructive sleep apnea. Quick suggestion: read about treatments for sleep apnea such as going to an ENT doctor to see if there are any physical abnormalities that can be corrected or going to a sleep specialist to see about having a sleep study done.

Symptoms:

___ I often worry that I will have trouble falling asleep.

___ I often lie awake in bed for more than twenty minutes at a time.

___ I often wake up after a few hours of sleep and have trouble getting

back to sleep.

___ I often have trouble turning off my thoughts when I am trying to

fall asleep.

Quick diagnosis: Insomnia. Quick suggestion: Learn how to sleep like a baby all over again by following the ten step plan in The Guide to Better Sleep Naturally.

Symptoms:

___ I tend to be a perfectionist.

___ I tend to be a workaholic.

___ I often wish there were more hours in a day.

___ I have trouble sleeping because I'm worrying about what I have to

do the next day.

Quick diagnosis: Anxiety or stress issues. Quick suggestion: if it is keeping you awake, rather than worrying about losing sleep, try and focus on the fact that your body will sleep if it needs to. Investigate relaxation techniques, including bio-feedback and self-hypnosis; there is one out there that will work for you and drugs are rarely the answer. Several successful techniques are discussed in Chapter 6 of The Guide to Better Sleep Naturally.

Symptoms:

___ I have less energy than I used to have.

___ I have less energy than I want to have.

___ I rarely look forward to getting up in the morning.

___ I have memory and/or concentration problems.

Quick diagnosis: Depression. Quick suggestion: seek professional help, but keep in mind that being tired all the time sometimes leads to depression and that sleep apnea is often masked by the medications used to treat depression and/or insomnia. So check with your bedpartner about whether you snore, snort, gasp or stop breathing during the night or treat the insomnia by re-learning how to sleep like a baby by following the ten step plan in The Guide to Better Sleep Naturally.

Symptoms:

___ Sometimes I wake up with a sore throat.

___ Sometimes I get daytime heartburn.

___ Sometimes I get heartburn while lying in bed.

___ Sometimes I wake up choking.

Quick diagnosis: Heartburn or reflux disease (GERD). Quick suggestion: watch carefully for when the symptoms are the worst and try and link them to particular foods that should then be avoided. For more ways to beat heartburn, read Chapter 6 of The Guide to Better Sleep Naturally.

Symptoms:

___ I often wake up with achy legs.

___ I often wake up with sore leg muscles.

___ I have been told that I kick at night.

___ I have been told that my arms or legs jerk when I am sleeping.

Quick diagnosis: PLMS (periodic limb movements in sleep). Quick suggestion: regular exercise at least a couple hours before bedtime and massage of the area that jerks or twitches just before bedtime.

Symptoms:

___ I get creepy, crawly sensations in my legs during the day.

___ I get creepy, crawly sensations in my legs when I am trying to

sleep.

___ I can't keep my legs still at night; I have to move them to feel

comfortable.

___ I have to get up and walk around at night if I want my legs to feel

comfortable.

Quick diagnosis: Restless leg syndrome. Quick suggestion: regular exercise can help, as can elimination of caffeine from your diet. If your doctor prescribes medication, make sure it is not in The Guide to Better Sleep Naturally's Chapter 7 list of medications that commonly cause insomnia.

Symptoms:

___ I often wake up with a dry mouth.

___ At least twice a month, I wake up during the night coughing.

___ At least twice a month, I wake up during the night gasping or short

of breath.

___ At least twice a month, I wake up wheezing or with a tight feeling

in my chest.

Quick diagnosis: Nasal or sinus issues, asthma, or lung disease. Quick suggestion: makes some changes to your indoor environment.

Symptoms:

___ I am unable to stay awake past 8 or 9 pm.

___ I am unable to fall asleep before 1 or 2 am.

___ If I don't go to bed by 10 pm, I'm not sleepy again until after

midnight.

___ I work the night shift.

Quick diagnosis: Circadian rhythm disorder. Quick suggestion: to get your body and your internal clock in the same time zone, get up at the same time every day, no matter how late you went to sleep.

Symptoms:

___ I have slept through the phone ringing.

___ I can sleep 10 to 12 hours every night.

___ No matter how much I sleep during the night, I still feel sleepy

during the day.

___ I have trouble keeping a job because I am always late for work.

Quick diagnosis: Hypersomnia. Quick suggestion: eliminate sleep deprivation from a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea as an underlying cause by completing a 2 week sleep log and having a sleep study.

Symptoms:

___ I often feel overwhemingly sleepy during the day even after a full

night's sleep.

___ I fall asleep when I do not want to, such as while eating, talking,

driving or working.

___ I find that I am briefly unable to talk or move while I am falling

asleep or waking up.

___ Sometimes when I'm laughing, surprised, angry or afraid I feel my

muscles go limp.

Quick diagnosis: Narcolepsy. Quick suggestion: verify the diagnosis by completing a 2 week sleep log and having a nighttime sleep study followed by a daytime sleep study called an MSLT or multi sleep latency test. It measures how quickly you go into REM sleep during five 20 minute scheduled nap sessions two hours apart starting at 8 am.

Symptoms:

___ I have been told that I grind my teeth while sleeping.

___ I have been told that I walk in my sleep.

___ I have been told that I talk in my sleep.

___ I have woken up screaming in fear.

Quick diagnosis: Parasomnias. Quick suggestion: wear a bite block for teeth grinding. Be patient: sleepwalking, sleeptalking and night terrors tend to be childhood disorders that are usually outgrown.