Insomnia Test (ISI)
A confidential self-assessment built on the Insomnia Severity Index, the standard insomnia screening used in sleep clinics and research worldwide. In two minutes you get an instant severity result with real clinical cutoffs and a plain-language PDF report you can keep or bring to a doctor or therapist.
Insomnia Test (ISI) is a free, confidential 7-question self-assessment, based on the validated ISI. It takes about 4 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 4 interpretation bands plus a downloadable PDF report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
What the Insomnia Severity Index actually captures
The ISI was built to measure insomnia the way clinicians think about it: not just how you sleep at night, but how much it costs you during the day and how much it worries you.
Nighttime and daytime symptoms
Seven items cover trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking too early, plus how satisfied you are with your sleep and how much the problem affects your days.
A severity score
Your answers sum to a single 0 to 28 score that maps onto the same clinical ranges used in sleep research: no significant insomnia, subthreshold, moderate, or severe.
A recent time window
The ISI asks about the past two weeks, so your result reflects how your sleep has actually been lately, not your worst night ever or your whole life.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Validated ISI questions | Sometimes | Yes, faithful wording |
| Real clinical severity cutoffs | Vague labels | Yes, from the ISI research |
| Covers daytime impact, not just nights | Rarely | Yes (interference & distress) |
| Plain-language interpretation | Rarely | Yes, for every band |
| Clinician-reviewed | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Downloadable PDF report | No | Yes, branded & shareable |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–28 in total. Your result falls into one of 4 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–7 | No clinically significant insomnia | Your answers fall below the threshold for clinically significant insomnia over the past two weeks. That is a reassuring result on this measure. |
| 8–14 | Subthreshold insomnia | Your answers point to subthreshold insomnia: real sleep difficulty that has not yet reached the clinical range. This is a good moment to act, while the pattern is still light. |
| 15–21 | Moderate clinical insomnia | Your answers point to moderate clinical insomnia. This is the range where structured treatment, especially CBT-I, is genuinely worth pursuing. |
| 22–28 | Severe clinical insomnia | Your answers point to severe clinical insomnia. Living on this little reliable sleep is exhausting, and you deserve proper help with it. |
Methodology & sources
This test reproduces the seven items of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), developed by Charles Morin and validated by Bastien and colleagues (2001) as an outcome measure for insomnia research. Each item is rated 0 to 4 for the past two weeks, giving a total score from 0 to 28. We use the validated clinical cutoffs confirmed by Morin and colleagues (2011): 0 to 7 no clinically significant insomnia, 8 to 14 subthreshold insomnia, 15 to 21 moderate clinical insomnia, and 22 to 28 severe clinical insomnia. One adaptation to be transparent about: the original ISI uses slightly different answer labels for different items (for example, severity labels for the sleep questions and satisfaction labels for the satisfaction question). To work as a single smooth questionnaire, this version words every item as a statement and uses one unified 0 to 4 answer set, from not at all to very much. The meaning and scoring of each item are preserved.
This test is provided for education and self-reflection. It is not a diagnosis. The ISI is a screening and severity tool, and a high score does not by itself confirm insomnia disorder, which a clinician diagnoses by talking with you about your sleep, health, and habits. It also cannot detect other sleep disorders. If you snore loudly, gasp or stop breathing during sleep, or fight heavy daytime sleepiness, please tell a doctor, because those are signs of sleep apnea, a different condition with its own effective treatment.
References
- Bastien CH, Vallières A, Morin CM. Validation of the Insomnia Severity Index as an outcome measure for insomnia research. Sleep Med. 2001;2(4):297–307. doi.org/10.1016/s1389-9457(00)00065-4
- Morin CM, Belleville G, Bélanger L, Ivers H. The Insomnia Severity Index: psychometric indicators to detect insomnia cases and evaluate treatment response. Sleep. 2011;34(5):601–608. doi.org/10.1093/sleep/34.5.601
- Qaseem A, Kansagara D, Forciea MA, Cooke M, Denberg TD. Management of chronic insomnia disorder in adults: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2016;165(2):125–133. doi.org/10.7326/m15-2175
Insomnia Test (ISI) FAQ
How much sleep do I actually need?
Most adults do best on 7 to 9 hours, but the range is real: some people genuinely thrive on a bit less, others need more. A more useful question than the exact number is how you feel during the day. If you are alert and functioning well, your sleep is probably doing its job, even if it is not textbook.
What is CBT-I?
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is a structured, short-term therapy that retrains your sleep using techniques like stimulus control, sleep scheduling, and changing anxious thoughts about sleep. It is the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia in the American College of Physicians guideline, recommended before sleep medication, and its benefits tend to last after treatment ends.
Should I just take sleeping pills?
The honest answer: medication can help short-term, but it treats the symptom, not the pattern. Guidelines recommend trying CBT-I first because pills carry tolerance, dependence, and next-day grogginess risks, and sleep usually worsens again when you stop. If you are considering medication, that is a conversation to have with a doctor, ideally alongside CBT-I rather than instead of it.
Is it insomnia or just my schedule?
Good question, because they get confused a lot. If you sleep fine whenever you are finally allowed to sleep on your own timing, say on weekends or holidays, your issue may be a mismatch between your body clock and your schedule rather than insomnia. Our chronotype test can help you figure out your natural timing. True insomnia means you struggle to sleep even when you have the time and opportunity.
When is it sleep apnea instead?
If you snore loudly, wake up gasping or choking, have been told you stop breathing in your sleep, or feel heavily sleepy during the day despite spending enough time in bed, see a doctor. Those are classic signs of sleep apnea, which this test cannot detect and which needs its own evaluation and treatment.
Is this test a diagnosis?
No. It is for education and self-reflection only. The ISI is a screening tool, and only a clinician can diagnose insomnia disorder or rule out other sleep conditions. If your results concern you, treat them as a good reason to talk to a doctor or a CBT-I trained therapist.
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