Somnera
Getting help

How to know if you have insomnia: a plain self-check

Five questions that sit behind the clinical definition of insomnia, what your answers mean, and when a self-check is not enough.

4 min read

Last reviewed November 11, 2026

Share

You probably have insomnia if you struggle to fall asleep, stay asleep, or wake too early on three or more nights a week, it has gone on for three months or more, it is affecting your days, and it happens even though you give yourself enough time in bed. Below is that definition turned into five plain questions, what each answer means, and where to go next.

If you want the full picture of what insomnia is, see what is insomnia. For the signs themselves, night and day, see insomnia symptoms. This page is just the check.

The five-question self-check

Answer for a typical week over the last few months, not for last night.

  1. Is the problem getting to sleep, staying asleep, or waking too early? Any one of the three counts. Most people have a mix.
  2. Does it happen three or more nights a week? One bad night after a stressful day does not count. A pattern does.
  3. Has it been going on for three months or more? Shorter than that is usually called short-term insomnia.
  4. Is it affecting your day? Tiredness, poor focus, irritability, low mood, mistakes at work, or worry about tonight all count.
  5. Are you giving yourself a fair chance to sleep? A reasonable time in bed, in a dark, quiet enough room, without being woken by a baby, a shift or a partner's alarm.

Five yeses: your sleep looks like chronic insomnia. Yes to the first four but no to the fifth: this may be sleep loss from circumstances rather than insomnia. Yeses to everything except the three months: likely short-term insomnia, worth watching rather than worrying about.

Why the fifth question matters most

It is the one people skip. Insomnia means you have the chance to sleep and cannot. Someone who gets to bed at 1am and is up at 6am for work is short on sleep, but their body may be sleeping perfectly well in the time it gets. Telling them to "treat their insomnia" misses the point; what they need is more time.

The reverse matters too. Many people with insomnia spend more time in bed than they sleep, going to bed early or lying in to catch up. That feels sensible, but it spreads sleep thin and keeps the problem going. It is the reason CBT-I uses a sleep window based on how much you actually sleep, not how much you would like to.

If you are not sure which side you are on, a week or two of a sleep diary answers it better than memory. Tired brains remember the worst nights best.

Self-check vs scored assessment vs diagnosis

This self-checkScored questionnaire (ISI)Clinician's diagnosis
What it tells youWhether your pattern fits the definitionHow severe your symptoms are, as a numberWhether it is insomnia, something else, or both
TimeOne minuteA few minutesAn appointment
Checks other causesNoNoYes
Good forDeciding whether to look furtherTracking change and describing it to a doctorRuling out apnea, mood problems, medication effects

The Insomnia Severity Index is the questionnaire most often used in research on insomnia. It asks seven questions about the last two weeks and gives a score. That score is useful for two things: seeing where you start, and seeing whether things change.

When the answer is "something else"

Some patterns look like insomnia but need a different answer. Raise these with a doctor rather than treating them on your own:

  • Loud snoring, gasping, or someone noticing you stop breathing in your sleep.
  • An urge to move your legs in the evening that eases when you move.
  • Falling asleep without meaning to during the day, especially while driving. If you feel drowsy at the wheel, pull over.
  • Low mood, loss of interest, or hopelessness most days. If you ever have thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 in the US.
  • Sleep that changed after starting or changing a medication. Do not stop it on your own; talk to your prescriber.

None of these rule out insomnia. They often travel together. They just mean the self-check is not the whole story, and a conversation with your doctor is the next step.

If the answer is yes

Clinical guidelines from the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine both recommend cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) as the first treatment for chronic insomnia in adults. It is a structured program of changes to your sleep schedule and to the habits and thoughts that keep insomnia going. You can do it with a therapist or through a self-guided program.

Somnera is a self-guided education program built on CBT-I. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace care from your own clinician. The assessment is free and gives you a real score.

Citations

  • 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:10.1016/S1389-9457(00)00065-4
  • Morin CM, Benca R. Chronic insomnia. Lancet. 2012;379(9821):1129–1141. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60750-2
  • Qaseem A, et al. 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:10.7326/M15-2175
  • Edinger JD, et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(2):255–262. doi:10.5664/jcsm.8986

Frequently asked questions

Check five things: trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early; on three or more nights a week; for three months or more; with an effect on your day; despite giving yourself enough time in bed. If all five fit, your sleep looks like chronic insomnia, and it is worth taking seriously.

Yes. The Insomnia Severity Index is a short, validated questionnaire used in research and clinics. It gives a score for how severe your symptoms are. It describes your sleep; it does not diagnose you.

Yes, but it is usually called short-term or acute insomnia. Many short stretches settle on their own once the trigger passes. The chronic label starts at three months.

Then it may not be insomnia. The definition requires that you had enough opportunity to sleep. Short sleep from a late schedule, shift work or a crying baby is sleep loss, and it needs a different fix.

A clinician: your primary care doctor, a sleep physician or a behavioral sleep medicine specialist. A self-check helps you describe the problem clearly, which makes that appointment more useful.

More in Getting help

Related posts