How Will I Be Evaluated for Insomnia?

The evaluation aims to monitor the nature and severity of insomnia and look for any coexisting psychiatric and medical problems that may be amenable to treatment. 

Insomnia can be diagnosed through history and self-reporting. It is helpful to maintain one's sleep diary, noting down the sleep pattern and problems, sleep times, and sleep quality. Given our tendency for recall bias and deviations in estimations, this sleep diary should be filled out every day for a week or two to note any possible patterns. 

Many wrist gadgets have in-built devices to measure apparent sleep quality. Still, their accuracy varies and may be more useful in comparison before and after treatment. It would also be helpful to note down the sleeping environment. A trip to the doctor would hence involve history taking, discussion on sleep practices, and other relevant physical examinations to rule out any coexisting psychiatric and medical problems. More complicated investigations are typically not required in most cases.