Sleep Quality Score Calculator

Sleep quality is not simply about the number of hours slept.
It covers how quickly you fall asleep, how often you wake during the night, how rested you feel on waking, and whether your sleep lines up with your body’s natural circadian rhythm.
Poor sleep quality is associated with reduced cognitive performance, mood disorders, weakened immune function, and increased risk of chronic disease.

Key Dimensions of Sleep Quality

The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), developed at the University of Pittsburgh, is the gold standard clinical tool for assessing sleep quality. It evaluates seven components:

1. Sleep latency: How long it takes to fall asleep. Less than 20 minutes is ideal; over 30 minutes may indicate sleep-onset issues.

2. Sleep duration: Total time actually asleep (not just in bed). Most adults need 7–9 hours. Consistently sleeping under 6 hours or over 9 hours both correlate with health problems.

3. Sleep efficiency: Time asleep ÷ time in bed. Above 85% is healthy; below 75% indicates poor efficiency.

4. Sleep disturbances: Waking during the night due to noise, pain, bathroom trips, or other causes.

5. Sleep medication use: Reliance on sleep aids indicates underlying sleep difficulties.

6. Daytime dysfunction: Trouble staying awake or maintaining enthusiasm during the day, a key indicator that nighttime sleep is insufficient or poor quality.

7. Subjective sleep quality: Overall assessment of how well you slept.

How this page scores you, and how it differs from the PSQI

The six questions above are worth 16 points in total, and the result is that total as a percentage:

Bands: 80% and above is excellent, 65 to 79 good, 45 to 64 fair, 25 to 44 poor, below 25 very poor.

Note that this is not a PSQI score and does not convert to one. Four of the seven PSQI components appear here in some form (latency, duration, disturbances, daytime dysfunction). Three do not: sleep efficiency, which needs your time in bed as well as your time asleep; sleep medication use; and overall subjective quality. In exchange this version asks about two things the PSQI does not, schedule consistency and screen use, because both are strongly linked to sleep quality and, unlike most of the PSQI items, both are things you can change tonight.

The PSQI also asks about the past month. This asks about last night, which makes it a spot check rather than a clinical measure. One bad night is a bad night, not a sleep disorder.

What Good Sleep Looks Like

Healthy sleep involves:

• A consistent sleep schedule (same bedtime and wake time daily, even weekends)
• Cool, dark, and quiet sleeping environment
• No screens for 30–60 minutes before bed
• No alcohol within 3 hours of bedtime (alcohol disrupts REM sleep)
• No caffeine within 6–8 hours of sleep
• Regular physical activity (but not within 2 hours of bedtime)

Sleep Stages

A full sleep cycle takes approximately 90 minutes and includes light sleep, deep sleep (slow-wave), and REM (dream) sleep. Most people complete 4–6 cycles per night. Deep sleep is most restorative for the body; REM sleep is critical for memory consolidation and emotional processing.