Epworth Sleepiness Scale

In this page you will discover how to test your sleepiness with the epworth scale.

When you meet with the sleep doctor, he or she will review your questionnaire and sleep diary with you and ask follow-up questions.

To get an accurate picture of what factors may be affecting your sleep, the sleep doctor is likely to ask you about recent changes in your residence, job, marital status, children, pets, and other possible stress-related issues.

Next, the doctor may assess your sleepiness by seeing how you rate on epworth scale. This step is crucial, since people are often bad at judging this phenomenon themselves. This is often true, because many people are so used to sleep deprivation that they don't realize how tired they are.

They may see themselves as unmotivated, lethargic, or lazy, but not sleepy. So, they may not think it's unusual to fall asleep at a movie or while sitting at a dinner with friends.

So, how likely are you to doze off or fall asleep in the following situations, in contrast to feeling just tired? This refers to your usual way of life in recent times.

Even if you have not done some of these things recently, try to work out how they would have affected you. Use the following scale to choose the most appropriate number for each situation:

• 0 - I would never doze
• 1 - slight chance of dozing
• 2 - moderate chance of dozing
• 3 - high chance of dozing

And here are the eight situations as follows:

Generally, a total of 10 points or higher is cause for concern. Individual epworth sleepiness scale score of 16 are typically seen only in individuals with narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia, or moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Also, the less appropriate the circumstances - such as when stopped in traffic while driving or during a conversation - the more dangerously sleepy you are considered to be.

Bottom line... The Epworth Sleepiness Scale has been reported to correlate with the degree of physiologic sleepiness as measured by the multiple sleep latency test if the score is greater than 16.

It is important to appreciate that the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for OSA: Many patients with AHI greater than 5 do not report daytime sleepiness and many subjects report sleepiness in the absence of sleep apnea.

Some more interesting pages for you to check out:

• Sleep apnea and obesity

• Sleep Disorders Centers

• Discover sleep disorders with a sleep study

Back from Epworth Sleepiness Scale to other Sleep Studies

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