Tests · sleep
Sleep Test
This short test shows how often, over the past month, sleep problems have been bothering you: trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, and whether you got enough sleep to feel rested. Just four questions can give you the big picture and help you decide whether sleep deserves more attention. It's a handy baseline, take the test again after a couple of weeks of working on your sleep, and you'll see what's changed.
- 4 questions
- Jenkins et al., 1988
- About this test
About the JSS-4
How often four common sleep problems happened over the last month, added into one score.
- Asks about
- The last month (how many nights each problem happened)
- Developed by
- C. David Jenkins, B. A. Stanton, S. J. Niemcryk and R. M. Rose, published in 1988
- Built and tested in
- Air traffic controllers and patients after cardiac surgery
Where it comes from
David Jenkins and colleagues published the scale in 1988 in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, in a paper titled "A scale for the estimation of sleep problems in clinical research." They wanted a brief, reliable and standard measure of sleep disturbance that large studies could use and that could show whether a treatment changed sleep. They tested three-item and four-item versions in two groups: air traffic controllers and patients six months after cardiac surgery.
The four-item version became known as the Jenkins Sleep Scale. Each question asks how often in the past month you had trouble falling asleep, woke up several times a night, had trouble staying asleep (including waking far too early), or woke up feeling tired and worn out after your usual amount of sleep. Answers run from not at all (0) to 22 to 31 days (5).
What the research found
Jenkins' abstract reports that 9% to 12% of air traffic controllers and 12% to 22% of patients six months after cardiac surgery had sleep problems on half or more of the days in the prior month. Internal consistency was .79 for the four-item scale and .63 for the three-item scale. Retest reliability of the three-item scale in cardiac surgery patients was .59. We could read the abstract only.
Later studies in general populations found that the four items work as one measure. A German survey of 2,515 people aged 14 to 95 confirmed a single factor (2020). A survey of 81,136 Finnish public-sector employees found an alpha of .80 and one factor, with an average score of 6.4 (SD 4.8) (2021, Finnish translation). Its authors describe the scale as a preliminary screener that can't cover the full range of sleep difficulties.
How scoring works
| Score | Label | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 11 | Less frequent sleep problems | Later papers call a total under 12 little sleep disturbance. A problem on 15 or more nights can still sit inside this range, so the page adds a note when one answer reaches 15 nights. |
| 12 to 20 | Frequent sleep problems | Later papers call a total of 12 or more a high frequency of sleep disturbance. |
Jenkins' abstract counts problems as frequent when they occur on half or more of the days in a month. The 12-point total comes from later papers: a 2016 review attributes it to Jenkins, and a 2021 Finnish study calls 11 the cut-off. We couldn't read Jenkins' full text to check where it started. Another convention treats any single answer of 15 nights or more as a sleep problem, based on DSM-IV-TR criteria. A small Turkish study of 61 people with rheumatoid arthritis found a lower cut-off of 6.5, so cut-offs differ by group.
What it can't tell you
The scale counts how often four problems happened. It doesn't measure how long you sleep, how much the problems bother you, or how they affect your days, and it can't tell you why you're sleeping badly. The original groups were air traffic controllers and cardiac surgery patients, and the answers rely on remembering a whole month, which blurs good weeks and bad ones.
In the German survey, more psychological distress went with higher scores, and a one-time score can't say which came first. Four questions can flag a pattern, but they can't diagnose insomnia or any other sleep disorder.
How to use your result
Use the score to compare your own months. Change something, retake the test after a few weeks, and see whether the total moves. Answers cover the whole month, so a retake within days will mostly repeat the same month.
If your total is 12 or more, or any single answer is 15 nights or more, consider raising it with a doctor, especially if you feel worn out during the day. For changes aimed at sleep, see CBT for insomnia and stimulus control.
More on this topic: CBT for insomnia, Stimulus control for insomnia, Sleep restriction therapy, Anxiety at night.
Your answers
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Sources 8
- Jenkins, Stanton, Niemcryk and Rose, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 1988 (PubMed): abstract only: purpose, the two study groups, the share with frequent problems, test-retest .59 and internal consistency .63 and .79. The full text is behind a paywall and wasn't read.
- Jenkins Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire on ePROVIDE (Mapi Research Trust): authors, year and the public-domain statement; fees may apply to Mapi's own translations.
- Monterrosa-Castro et al., Sleep Science, 2016 (PMC): a review that prints the four items and the 0 to 5 answer labels (Appendix E) and gives 12 or more as high frequency; a secondary source for the item wording.
- Juhola et al., BMJ Open, 2021 (PMC): 81,136 Finnish employees: alpha, one factor, mean score; describes 11 as the cut-off and the scale as a preliminary screener.
- Tibubos et al., Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2020 (PubMed): abstract only: 2,515 people in the German population, one-factor structure, distress linked to more sleep problems.
- Lallukka et al., Journal of Epidemiology, 2011 (PMC): four items and the convention of 15 or more nights, based on DSM-IV-TR.
- Duruöz et al., Archives of Rheumatology, 2018 (PMC): 61 people with rheumatoid arthritis, cut-off of 6.5 (sensitivity 83%, specificity 79%); how poor and good sleepers were defined wasn't checked.
- Ornat et al., Maturitas, 2014 (PubMed): abstract only: one example of a study using a score of 12 or more as disturbed sleep.