Did you know that faulty beliefs and excessive worry about sleep can make insomnia worse? Are your thoughts about sleep causing you to lose sleep? Dr. Charles Morin and colleagues created and validated a 16 question assessment to help you learn about your own beliefs and attitude toward insomnia. There are no right or wrong answers. However, higher scores could indicate that the strong belief or attitude could be a trigger for worry or concern about insomnia making it harder to fall asleep at night.
For each statement, move the slider from 0 to 10 to correspond with your own personal belief, even if it does not apply directly to your situation.
1) I need 8 hours of sleep to feel refreshed and function well during the day.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
2) When I don't get the proper amount of sleep on a given night, I need to catch up on the next day by napping or on the next night by sleeping longer.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
3) I am concerned that chronic insomnia may have serious consequences on my physical health.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
4) I am worried that I may lose control over my abilities to sleep.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
5) After a poor night’s sleep, I know that it will interfere with my daily activities on the next day.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
6) In order to be alert and function well during the day, I believe I would be better off taking a sleeping pill rather than having a poor night’s sleep.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
7) When I feel irritable, depressed, or anxious during the day, it is mostly because I did not sleep well the night before.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
8) When I sleep poorly on one night, I know it will disturb my sleep schedule for the whole week.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
9) Without an adequate night’s sleep, I can hardly function the next day.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
10) I can’t ever predict whether I’ll have a good or poor night’s sleep.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
11) I have little ability to manage the negative consequences of disturbed sleep.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
12) When I feel tired, have no energy, or just seem not to function well during the day, it is generally because I did not sleep well the night before.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
13) I believe insomnia is essentially the result of a chemical imbalance.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
14) I feel insomnia is ruining my ability to enjoy life and prevents me from doing what I want.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
15) Medication is probably the only solution to sleeplessness.
0Strongly disagree
5
Strongly agree10
16) I avoid or cancel obligations (social, family) after a poor night’s sleep.
Researchers suggest that a score of 3.5 or higher can be used to identify people whose beliefs about insomnia may be part of the reason they are experiencing insomnia. If you are one of these people, you are encouraged to focus on your thinking around insomnia as an important component of your treatment of insomnia. It is possible that beliefs scoring less than 3.5 can also be associated with insomnia and it is also possible that scores above 3.5 come from people who are good sleepers.
Beliefs about sleep