Epworth Sleepiness Scale – This Test Helps To Find Out How Sleepy You Are
Sleepiness is defined as an intense desire to hit the bed and fall asleep. It is often used interchangeably with drowsiness. Excessive sleepiness, particularly during the day can make you feel extremely lazy. It can also hamper your ability to function optimally. You may feel completely lost and without a purpose.
A common question in the minds of most people battling with constant lethargy is how to get rid of sleepiness? The first step in getting rid of it is to determine if what you’re feeling is normal or not. Here is how you can know if your excessive sleepiness is a sign of a sleep disorder or is an underlying health issue.
Epworth Sleepiness Scale – What it Says About Your Sleep
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Feeling excessively sleepy or lazy throughout the day can be a sign of a sleep disorder. It can also point towards an undiagnosed mental health problem. Fortunately, there’s a tool to your rescue. It is the Epworth sleepiness scale or ESS as it’s commonly known.
Created by doctor Murray Johns in 1990,the scale is used by doctors to assess a patient’s sleepiness. It consists of eight questions that require you to rate your tendency to feel sleepy on a scale of 0 to 3 during daily activities and situations.
Some of the activities in the scale include:
Watching television
Sitting and reading
Sitting and talking to someone
Sitting in a car stopped for a few minutes
Lying down to take some rest in the afternoon
Before you try to find out an answer to the question, how to overcome laziness, take the epworth sleepiness scale test online right now. You will know if you are just lazy or if there’s more to it.
How to Use the Epworth Sleepiness Scale
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As mentioned above, you have to rate the likelihood of your dozing off as you engage in the activities included in the scale. For each of the activities, you have to use a rating criteria between 0-3 to determine your chances of dozing off. Use the rating between 0-3 in the following way:
If you feel like you are not likely to doze off at all, rate yourself 0 on the scale.
In case of a minor likelihood of dozing during the activities, rate yourself 1.
If you feel like there is a moderate likelihood for you to doze off, give yourself a rating of 2.
In cases where you are pretty sure of dozing off, give yourself a rating of 3.
After you have completed the test, add the ratings of all the responses. The sum of their addition will give you a score based on a scale of 0-24.
Interpreting the Results of Epworth Sleepiness Scale
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Your total score in the epworth sleepiness scale can indicate whether or not you are suffering from a possible sleep disorder. It can also be used to determine the cause of the excessive sleepiness and laziness that you are feeling. Here is how you can interpret the test results yourself.
A total score between 0-7 indicates that there is pretty much no problem with your sleepiness. It is perfectly normal.
A score ranging between 8-9 shows that you are experiencing a moderate amount of sleepiness.
A rating ranging from 10-15 indicates that you’re exhibiting excessive sleepiness during some activities. This may or may not be normal. You may consider reaching out to a medical practitioner in this case.
A rating between 16-24 indicates abnormal sleepiness. You should immediately consult your doctor in this case.
A high epworth Sleepiness Scale score is not healthy. It may mean that you might be dealing with sleep disorders like Sleep Apnea, Narcolepsy, and Hypersomnia. Use this scale to your advantage by finding out if you may be suffering from a potential health disorder before it gets out of hand.
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