PSQI Sleep Quality Snapshot
{{ globalScore }}/21
{{ summarySubline }}
{{ level.badgeText }} {{ priorityBadgeText }} {{ thresholdBadgeText }} {{ efficiencyBadgeText }} {{ trend.badgeText }} {{ observerBadgeText }}

Quick 19-item sleep quality check-in for the past month.

  • Answer for your usual sleep over the past month, not one unusually good or bad night.
  • The total keeps the official seven-component PSQI scoring.
  • Responses stay in this browser unless you export or share the URL.
{{ progressPercent }}%
{{ scoredAnsweredCount }}/{{ requiredQuestionCount }} answered
  • {{ row.id }}. {{ row.text }}
/21
weeks
{{ card.label }}
{{ card.value }}
{{ card.note }}
Sleep Quality Component Map

{{ componentChartLead }}

{{ reportLead }}

Top priorities
  1. {{ item }}
Practical adjustments
  • {{ item }}
What to bring into follow-up
  • {{ item }}
When to seek support: {{ supportNote }}
Threshold context
  • {{ item }}
Change vs prior

{{ trendSummary }}

Higher-burden components
  • {{ row.label }} ({{ row.score }}/3): {{ row.cue }}
Better-function anchors
  • {{ row.label }} ({{ row.score }}/3): {{ row.cue }}
Component detail
Component Score Current reading What it suggests
{{ row.label }}
{{ row.shortLabel }}
 {{ row.score }}/3 {{ row.rawSummary }} {{ row.cue }}
Top disturbance drivers
# Driver Score Reading cue
{{ driver.id }} {{ driver.label }} {{ driver.score }}/3 {{ driver.note }}
Observer annex
# Observer note Score Why it matters
{{ row.id }} {{ row.label }} {{ row.score }}/3 {{ row.note }}
Response ledger
# Prompt Lane Response Scoring use
{{ row.id }}
{{ row.short }}
{{ row.text }}
 {{ row.domainLabel }} {{ row.responseLabel }} {{ row.useLabel }}
JSON
{{ formattedJson }}
Tags: Psychometrics , Sleep Hygiene
Export to PDF Fullscreen
:

Sleep quality is broader than sleep duration. Someone can spend enough hours in bed and still sleep poorly because falling asleep is slow, awakenings keep breaking the night, medicine is doing some of the work, or next-day alertness keeps slipping. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, or PSQI, was built to describe that fuller pattern across the past month.

The PSQI does that by turning 19 self-rated questions into seven scored components: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, sleep medication use, and daytime dysfunction. A separate bed-partner or roommate section can add context about loud snoring, breathing pauses, movement, or unusual behavior during sleep, but those observer items do not become part of the formal score.

Diagram showing the PSQI past-month profile, seven scored components feeding a 0 to 21 global score, and a separate observer annex outside the total.

The month-long frame matters because sleep varies. One especially bad night, a short illness, or a stressful weekend can feel decisive when you are tired, yet the instrument is meant to describe what was usual for most nights over the last month.

The PSQI is an informational sleep screener, not a clinical diagnosis or treatment plan. A higher total can support follow-up about insomnia symptoms, sleep-disordered breathing, pain, medication use, or daytime safety, but it cannot tell you which explanation is correct on its own.

Technical Details:

Each PSQI component score runs from 0 to 3, with higher values meaning worse sleep in that area. Adding the seven components gives the global score from 0 to 21. In the original validation paper, a global score greater than 5 separated good and poor sleepers in the study sample, which is why that cutoff remains the classic review cue.

The components are built in different ways. Subjective sleep quality and sleep medication use come straight from single answers. Sleep latency combines usual minutes to fall asleep with the frequency of taking more than 30 minutes. Sleep duration comes from reported hours of actual sleep. Habitual sleep efficiency compares actual sleep with time in bed. Sleep disturbances sum nine nighttime problems, while daytime dysfunction combines trouble staying awake with reduced enthusiasm.

The scoring rules also contain two details that are easy to miss in hand calculations. Observer items from the bed-partner section do not enter the global score, and the extra disturbance item for another sleep problem is counted only when both the frequency and its short note are present. If the note is missing, that disturbance is treated as 0 for scoring.

Two calculations drive most of the score interpretation: the seven-component sum and the sleep-efficiency percentage.

Global score = C1 + C2 + C3 + C4 + C5 + C6 + C7 Sleep efficiency = actual sleep hours time in bed hours × 100
Component Inputs used How the component is built
Subjective sleep quality Overall sleep-quality rating Single answer scored directly from 0 to 3.
Sleep latency Usual minutes to fall asleep and the frequency of taking more than 30 minutes Minutes and frequency are converted to points, then combined into a 0 to 3 component.
Sleep duration Actual sleep hours per night Hours are recoded to 0, 1, 2, or 3 points.
Habitual sleep efficiency Bedtime, wake time, and actual sleep hours Time in bed is compared with sleep time, then recoded to 0 to 3 points.
Sleep disturbances Nighttime disturbance items and the extra other-reason item when its note is present Nine disturbance items produce a subtotal from 0 to 27, then a 0 to 3 component.
Sleep medication use Frequency of taking medicine to sleep Single answer scored directly from 0 to 3.
Daytime dysfunction Trouble staying awake and reduced enthusiasm The two daytime items are summed, then converted to a 0 to 3 component.
Measure 0 points 1 point 2 points 3 points
Sleep duration At least 7 h 6 to less than 7 h 5 to less than 6 h Less than 5 h
Sleep efficiency At least 85% 75% to less than 85% 65% to less than 75% Less than 65%
Latency combined points 0 1 to 2 3 to 4 5 to 6
Disturbance subtotal 0 1 to 9 10 to 18 19 to 27
Daytime subtotal 0 1 to 2 3 to 4 5 to 6

Everyday Use & Decision Guide:

Start with a typical month, not the most memorable night. The answers are strongest when bedtime, wake time, sleep hours, and symptom frequency all describe what usually happened over the same past-month window. That is especially important for sleep efficiency, because the page calculates it from the reported sleep window rather than from a rough impression of whether you slept well.

The Advanced panel is for framing, not rescoring. Review focus changes the follow-up wording for routine review, CBT-I or behavior follow-up, clinician discussion prep, or daytime safety review, but it does not change the PSQI total. Previous PSQI total and Weeks since previous PSQI are useful only when the earlier number came from another complete PSQI scored over a comparable month.

  • Read PSQI Sleep Quality Snapshot first for the global score, threshold badge, efficiency badge, and the page's quick reading of the profile.
  • Use Sleep Quality Component Map and Component detail together when you need to see which components are carrying the score instead of stopping at the total.
  • Use Top priorities, Practical adjustments, and What to bring into follow-up as discussion aids, especially when you are preparing for CBT-I work, a clinic visit, or a safety-focused review.
  • Open Observer annex, Response ledger, and JSON only when you need extra context or a saved record.

Scoring happens in the browser, but the saved outputs still deserve care. Downloaded chart images, CSV files, DOCX exports, JSON exports, and a shared populated page state can all preserve sensitive sleep information. Treat them like personal health notes, not disposable screenshots.

Step-by-Step Guide:

Use this order when you want the page to stay easy to read and easy to trust.

  1. Click Begin Assessment and answer the schedule questions first. A sensible bedtime, wake time, actual sleep hours, and latency estimate should move the progress bar upward and start filling the required question count.
  2. Finish the disturbance, medication, and daytime items until the progress bar reaches 100% and PSQI Sleep Quality Snapshot appears. If a time or number field clears when you leave it, the entry was outside the accepted range and needs to be corrected before the score can finalize.
  3. If you select a value above zero for Other reason(s) disturbed sleep, fill the follow-up note when it appears. If you leave the note blank, Threshold context and Component detail will report that the extra disturbance item is being scored as 0.
  4. Open Advanced only after the base score is visible. Set Review focus for the kind of follow-up you want, then add Previous PSQI total and Weeks since previous PSQI only if the earlier score came from another full PSQI.
  5. Read PSQI Sleep Quality Snapshot, then Sleep Quality Component Map, then the Component detail table. If breathing problems, pain, or daytime sleepiness stands out, confirm it again in Top disturbance drivers or Observer annex before deciding what the score means.
  6. Export only what you need after the page looks complete. The component map can be downloaded as PNG, WebP, JPEG, or CSV, the Response ledger can be copied or exported as CSV or DOCX, and JSON saves the structured record for later review.

Interpreting Results:

The formal PSQI result is the 0 to 21 global score, and the first boundary that matters is the original >5 cutoff. This page also groups totals into its own Overall level labels: Better sleep-quality range for 0 to 5, Elevated sleep-quality burden for 6 to 10, High sleep-quality burden for 11 to 15, and Broad sleep-quality burden for 16 to 21. Those labels make the page faster to scan, but the score itself remains the official PSQI output.

  • A score above 5 supports the idea of poorer sleep quality on this screening instrument. It does not diagnose insomnia, sleep apnea, circadian problems, medication dependence, or any other specific cause.
  • A score of 5 or lower does not automatically mean sleep is fine. A 2/3 or 3/3 component in Component detail can still point to a narrow but important problem.
  • Change vs prior is worth trusting only when the earlier number came from another complete PSQI scored over the same past-month frame.
  • If Top disturbance drivers or Observer annex highlights loud snoring, breathing pauses, confusion during sleep, or dangerous daytime sleepiness, those details matter even when the total is only moderate.

Read the result in this order: total, threshold context, highest components, then symptom-specific follow-up cues. That keeps the score tied to what actually drove it instead of treating one number as the whole sleep story.

Worked Examples:

Latency carrying an elevated total

A person reports bedtime at 23:00, wake time at 07:00, 6.5 hours of actual sleep, and about 40 minutes to fall asleep, with taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep marked Once or twice a week, two minor disturbance items, and mild daytime drag. PSQI Sleep Quality Snapshot lands at 7/21, Overall level reads Elevated sleep-quality burden, and Lowest-function area points to sleep latency. In Component detail, sleep latency is 2/3 while duration, efficiency, disturbances, and daytime dysfunction each sit at 1/3. That is a score above 5 driven mainly by slow sleep onset plus a few smaller burdens, not by broad trouble in every component.

A boundary result that still deserves a closer look

Another person reports 22:45 to 06:45 in bed, 7.0 hours of actual sleep, a usual latency of 20 minutes, Fairly bad overall sleep quality, two low-frequency disturbance items, and only occasional daytime sleepiness. The total comes out to 5/21. Threshold context reads At the 5-point boundary, so the result has not crossed the original >5 cutoff. Even so, Component detail still shows subjective sleep quality at 2/3. That is the kind of profile where a low-looking total can hide one area that still matches the person's complaint.

Why the extra disturbance note matters

A third person reports 22:30 to 06:30 in bed, 7.5 hours asleep, 20 minutes of latency, several strong disturbance items, and an Other reason(s) disturbed sleep frequency of 2, but leaves the short note blank. The page keeps the total at 5/21 because that extra disturbance is scored as 0 without the note, and Threshold context stays at the boundary. Once the short note is added, the disturbance subtotal rises enough for the component score to increase from 1/3 to 2/3, and the global score becomes 6/21. This is a useful troubleshooting example because the missing note changes the interpretation from boundary to above the classic cutoff.

FAQ:

Does this diagnose insomnia or sleep apnea?

No. The PSQI measures sleep-quality burden across the last month. A higher score or a worrying observer note can support follow-up, but diagnosis still depends on the broader clinical picture and sometimes additional testing.

Why is a score above 5 treated as important?

The original PSQI validation study found that a global score greater than 5 separated good and poor sleepers in that sample, with sensitivity of 89.6% and specificity of 86.5%. It is a screening cue, not a stand-alone diagnosis.

Do observer answers change the PSQI total here?

No. The observer section is shown as Observer annex because it adds context without changing the seven scored PSQI components.

Why did my other disturbance answer not raise the score?

If Other reason(s) disturbed sleep is above zero, the page also expects the short note that explains what that reason is. Without the note, that extra disturbance is scored as 0 and the warning shows up in Threshold context and Component detail.

Can I compare this result with an older score I only remember roughly?

That comparison is weak. Change vs prior is most useful when the earlier number came from another complete PSQI scored over a similar month, not from memory or from a shorter check-in.

What happens if bedtime is later than wake time on the clock?

The page treats the sleep window as crossing midnight before it calculates time in bed and habitual sleep efficiency. That lets a bedtime like 23:30 and a wake time like 06:30 behave as one overnight sleep period.

Where do my answers go when I use this page?

Scoring happens in the browser and there is no separate scoring request for the assessment itself. Even so, copied exports, downloaded files, and a shared populated URL can still preserve the result, so treat them as sensitive sleep information.

Glossary:

PSQI
The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a past-month self-report measure of sleep quality.
Sleep latency
How long it usually takes to fall asleep after going to bed.
Habitual sleep efficiency
The percentage of time in bed that is actually spent asleep.
Daytime dysfunction
The PSQI component built from trouble staying awake and reduced enthusiasm during the day.
Observer annex
The page's context section for bed-partner or roommate observations that do not change the global score.

References: